REGGAE LEGEND ESCAPES DEATH

PEACE AND LOVE AND LOTS OF MUSIC DROVE A RASTA LEGEND

By PETER THOMAS BUSCH

Reggae legend Bob Marley turns out to be a bit of a sports fan and a family man while developing revolutionary music as Jamaica devolves into civil war.

Kingsley Ben-Adir portrays Marley as a thoughtful heart felt creative soul as he develops the concept for a peace concert meant to restore happiness to the island nation.

The 1 h 47 minute runtime literally sings by, compelled by the acting performance of Ben-Adir and the reggae music of Marley in Bob Marley: One Love (2024), currently streaming in Canada on Paramount+.

Director Reinaldo Marcus Green shows Marley as having some marital issues, but he was otherwise a family oriented person, engaged mainly in making and performing music.

Green is known for directing the biopic, King Richard (2021), about the father of the tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams, starring Will Smith. Smith won an Oscar for his performance in the title role.

The narrative jumps about a bit, including flashbacks to Marley’s childhood, but also back and forth from the chaos of street violence to the peace of music harmony.

In essence, Marley seems to have spent a lot of time with his bandmates, so much so at times that his lovely wife Rita was a singer in the band.

Green explains with his camera: “shooting in the street – don’t worry’, “a bit jealous – don’t worry’.

Lashana Lynch plays the lovely Rita Marley. And through the dialogue between Rita and Bob, and the people in their inner circle, the reggae songs are shown to be a product of the thoughtfulness and deep souls of the people involved in the production of the music.

Bob and his family took care of the neighbourhood as best they could.

The narrative follows Marley to London, where he played in famous underground clubs that had been previously booked by bands that were part of the British punk music revolution. The end product from life in London is the celebrated reggae album, Exodus

The music is so good as to be able to drive many scenes, but the film does not have an independent score, and is, as a result, just a bit short of being a biopic music video.

But ‘don’t worry’, because Ben-Adir creates the empathetic and loving character Marley is expected to be as the Rasta takes everyone through the soul searching creative process, amid the turmoil of the 1970s.