Bob Marley | One Love

Truthfully, sitting down for the Bob Marley movie, I was excited because I am a fan, but I had also heard mixed reviews. After watching the movie, I’ve been conflicted about my feelings about it since. I thought that his story was mainly focused on his inspiration and songs, rather than his legacy and who he was as a person. The directing was confusing as the movie included random snippets of his upbringing, and overall the movie felt… unfinished.

It starts off with him, fully grown, preparing for his peace concert in Jamaica. From the beginning, we are immediately thrown in face-first instead of starting off where it all began. Instead of going in chronological order, it starts with his first concert and how his music career occurs with random flashbacks thrown in.

The whole movie seems messy, and with the strong Jamaican accents it makes the movie difficult to follow without subtitles. However, Marley’s story really is interesting and the movie captures his purpose and message nicely.

The movie got its name ‘Bob Marley One Love’ based on the peace concert Marley formed titled One Love, which kick started his career. His summer-y vacation songs have a much deeper meaning that is overlooked as ‘Three Little Birds’ is used for vacation resort commercials.

This movie came out at a perfect time as conflicts in Israel and Palestine are bringing fear of the next world war to our world. In a time where we are all scared for our future, I feel like this movie and Bob Marley’s story need to bring inspiration and peace once again.

I recognized similarities in the movie to other popular music biopics like Bohemian Rhapsody and Elvis. One quote from the Elvis movie popped into my head while I was watching. “When things are too dangerous to say, sing.” This quote is really applicable to the Bob Marley movie, as he sang for peace and unity during the brink of civil war in Jamaica, as detailed in the movie.

The most influential part about his life was his rasta(fari) culture and reggae music. Rasta is an Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s that Bob Marley followed throughout the entirety of his life. Green, red, and yellow are the rasta colors and are incorporated in Marley’s outfits, as well as his dreadlocks being a part of it as well. Reggae music also originated in Jamaica, and thus made Bob Marley the most famous reggae artist in the world. Reggae incorporates rhythm and blues jazz and is deeply rooted in rastafarianism. The movie does incorporate rastafarian music and culture, and depicts it well considering it’s Marley’s roots and lifestyle.

The movie glosses over Bob Marley and Rita Anderson’s open marriage, depicting some of the many children Marley fathered until his death. The reggae legend had children with 7 other women, including his wife Rita. Ziggy Marley, who’s actor portraying him in the movie delivers a few lines as a child, is still alive today and performs his father’s songs occasionally on TV and in concert. He is the spitting image of his father and sounds eerily similar to him when he sings as well. Marley’s legacy lives on within his children today.

Overall, the movie’s purpose and message is clear and beautifully shown, however the execution of the film is messy and I wish it had been done differently. I feel as though there were some parts that were thrown in there, and the movie feels relatively fast-paced. I walked out of the theater with more questions than I went in with, and I didn’t feel like I knew him from watching the movie. I don’t think that they did Bob Marley justice, and I wish that I had more good things to say about it.