Does “Is This Love” get your body bouncing? Does “Redemption Song” get your emotions stirring? If so, hopefully you enjoyed the new Bob Marley movie in the surround sound of the theaters. If not, you still may have time before One Love ends its theater run. And don’t let the lukewarm critical reviews sway you. Forty-three years after his death, Marley’s music resounds around the world and carries the movie.
Bob Marley: One Love is directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green. Like his previous feature film King Richard (see previous review King Richard: A Telling Look at the Man Behind the Williams Sisters), Green focuses on a narrow time frame of his subject, this time Bob Marley from 1976-1978. Kingsley Ben-Adir (The OA) nails Marley’s look, sound, and moves. Lashana Lynch (No Time to Die) takes on the burdens of Rita Marley; wife, member of the back-up singers, The I-Threes, and mother to their children (and some of the others from her husband’s philandering).
One Love is bookended by large outdoor concerts: Smile Jamaica and the One Love Peace Concert. Smile Jamaica was intended to promote peace among the warring political parties, but an attempted assassination of Marley shortly before the scheduled concert (Bob was wounded, Rita and the band’s manager were seriously hurt) derails the peace efforts and sends Bob Marley and the Wailers off to London.
Inspired by their situation as refugees and by the soundtrack of the film, the band names their next album, Exodus. Marley wants to explore new ground. They check out The Clash at a local club. Marley seems intrigued: “Punks are outcasts from society and so are Rastas.” The album result was a blend of blues, soul, funk, and rock with reggae on top. (Album geeks will love the band’s debate over the cover.) “Jamming,” “Waiting in Vain,” “Turn Your Lights Down Low,” “Natural Mystic,” “One Love/People Get Ready,” and the title song. Every song is worthy.
They return to Jamaica in 1978 after Marley’s cancer diagnosis. This time the Jamaica concert brings the country together as the closing credits show both heads of Jamaica’s political parties united with Marley on stage. He is also shown performing later in Zimbabwe fulfilling a dream to take his message to Africa.
Some may be disappointed in One Love. It’s truthful and hits on all the major touchstones of Bob Marley’s life, but only briefly. It’s not a typical rock biography. For the most part, Green keeps it sunny and satisfying. The ubiquitous ganja and Jamaican patois set the vibe (streamers may want to turn on the subtitles to understand the dialog better). There are plenty of other information sources for digging deeper. This film explores the life-changing three-year period that would set his fate and leave an indelible impact on the world. Ben-Adir is captivating and the music entrancing. You will go home and put on some Marley.
* Time magazine would call Exodus the most important album of the 20th century.
* Legend, the best-of Bob Marley and the Wailers, is the best-selling reggae album of all time.
(An aside…I mentioned the closing credits above. How ’bout the opening experience for all of us in theaters when the lights go down? After multiple commercials and trailers, your already long movie is now about 15 minutes longer. One Love is a welcome, and I submit unprecedented, surprise. A 7:00 behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film containing brief interviews with Green and Ziggy Marley, snippets from the movie, musical tastes, and even trivia. That’s it. No commercials or previews!)
D² Rating ◼◼◼◩☐
Trivia: What Bob Marley song became a huge hit for Eric Clapton in 1974?
Trivia: Bob Marley died in 1981 at the age of 36 from a rare form of what type of cancer?
Answers: “I Shot the Sheriff” and melanoma, specifically acral lentiginous melanoma