Whenever there is a biopic about a popular musician who met a premature death, it usually contains a few predictable elements, including: their luxurious life-styles; their struggles to reach the top, their self-destructive behaviours and personal – often sexual – indiscretions.
When the subject is a marijuana-smoking Rastafarian who brought reggae music into the mainstream, one might expect even more salacious personal revelations. However this film is significantly different and much less predicable. While it alludes to some of these stock elements, these are largely secondary to Bob Marley’s talent, personal goals and achievements.
His struggles to reach the top of his craft are are not part of this story. His personal indiscretions are reduced to a heated argument with his partner. And his humble origins are alluded to briefly in a few flashbacks. Instead the overriding theme is how Marley used his talent and fame to promote peace and social justice. His music and the purpose behind it are the focus of this film.
It begins with the last few years of his life in the mid 1970s when his native Jamaica was racked by political instability. As law and order disintegrated, rival gangs roamed the streets performing acts of increasing violence. Marley himself was the target of an assassination attempt which injured him and nearly killed his wife. It is in this climate that he plans to give a concert to promote unity but the authorities are reluctant fearing further violence. However, he persists. From this beginning, we learn his mantra: his music is his weapon; his guitar is his gun.
Bob Marley: One Love. Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green, 2024.
Kingsley Ben-Adir is excellent as the lead and the period is authentically recreated in the fashions, location photography as well as contemporary news coverage. Of course, there is Marley’s music – all the songs are his original tracks and the dialogue is replete with the distinctive Caribbean argot (We feel we are in the Jamaica of the period).
Marley’s death at 36 robbed the world not only of a talented performer but also of a peace activist and social reformer. Clearly, he would have achieved much more had he lived. In his own way, Marley was mirroring the work of figures such as Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandella. He was not a politician or a cleric but used his art for similar ends.
The final credits show original footage of his activism in bringing political opponents together on stage. While the world has changed since we lost Bob Marley, we still need those who advocate unity over division and non-violence over conflict – people who are regrettably in short supply.
This film not a sensationalist piece but a gritty depiction of a harsh political reality and how one man tried and succeeded in making a difference. Despite this, it is not a lecture in ideology or a sermon in political correctness. Instead we get a three dimensional picture of a talented individual who is not afraid to leave his comfort zone. As such, it goes beyond the glamour and glitz of the pop star ethos. The film reminds us that Bob Marley was much more than a hippie figure with impressive dreadlocks. As such, it is a fitting tribute to his legacy.
‘Let’s get together and feel all right’.