Good vibrations despite an uneven ride
BOB Marley. For a really long time, whenever I went to a beach, it was a given I’d hear his music. His music makes people want to relax, chill, dance, make love — but it also makes people want to stand up for the freedom of their fellow man and fight oppression. You can’t help but feel the good vibes. Marley’s timeless, infectious, catchy melodies and lyrics just stick to you — and that’s not a bad thing at all.
The man and the music he made with the Wailers is loved and revered in his home of Jamaica (a country of close to three million people) and embraced worldwide for almost 50 years.
Marley was born in Nine Mile, Jamaica, in 1945. The movie opens in 1976 — the country is plagued by division. Rival gangs and rival political parties have made life unstable and dangerous for thousands. While the movie leads up to the 1978 Concert for Peace and Unity, the film has a lot of time jumps and needs more solid cohesion.
Despite that, you somehow still leave the cinema with his songs stuck in your head. It’s been a week since the screening, and I’m still singing. Bob Marley was a beloved legend; even with some disjointedness in the storytelling, you still end up taking something positive away from watching.
Some of the parts I enjoyed were seeing a really young Bob Marley and an early version of the Wailers cut “Simmer Down” at a tiny recording studio in Kingston in the early ‘60s when Bob was a teenager. Another moment I found funny in the movie happened when he was advised to leave Jamaica and spend time in London after an attempt on his life. He goes to a small club, watches The Clash, and when he exits, he sees a fight outside and says, “This reminds me of Trenchtown!”
Kingsley Ben-Adir does well as Bob Marley and gets the dancing down. In fact, he was also dancing in the most talked-about and shared production number from the recent Oscars. Along with Simu Liu (Shang-Chi), Ncuti Gatwa (Doctor Who), and Scott Evans (Oliver Fish), he was among the 75 Kens who joined Ryan Gosling for his three-minute performance of “I’m Just Ken.”
Lashana Lynch puts her heart into the role of Rita Marley. She’s such an impassioned actor and a draw for anything she’s in.
Bob Marley has sold 75 million records. Hopefully, another generation of listeners get to know and embrace the man.
‘Bob Marley: One Love’ opened in cinemas last Wednesday.