Ben-Adir shines, but ‘One Love’ storytelling stumbles
How can you contain the meaning of Bob Marley in a single biopic? The pioneering reggae artist’s life was all too short, but his music has persisted infinitely, reaching far beyond the blue mountains of his native Jamaica, and he continues to be a global icon and a posthumous ambassador for Rastafarian culture 40 years after his death. But the man himself has been abstracted into an image for sale, a mere signifier adorning a dorm room poster, his songs of peace and freedom the dutiful standards of beach bar cover bands across the globe. Is it possible to tell the story of his life in a way that feels truthfully human?
These are the questions with which one wrestles in contending with the new biopic from director Reinaldo Marcus Green, “Bob Marley: One Love.” But unfortunately, the film itself does not undertake these complex matters. Though the film promises to tell a culturally and politically specific story, what could have been daring is ultimately trite, relying on familiar music biopic tropes. It’s a shame, because at the center is a bravura performance from Kingsley BenAdir as Bob Marley.
Ben-Adir is uniquely suited to this role. Like the singer, he is of Afro-Caribbean (Trinidadian, specifically) and English descent, and he nails Marley’s Jamaican patois, which
Green allows to flow as thick as it is, without subtitles. Ben-Adir captures Marley’s voice and his wild physicality, and Green smartly keeps the camera focused on his face in the concert performances, which are transfixing.
Lashana Lynch is also terrific as Rita Marley, Bob’s wife, backup singer, and the mother to (part of) his brood, including Ziggy Marley, who produced the film. We track Marley’s life story partially through his romance with Rita, and she serves as a steadying force. But the screenplay, by Terence Winter, Frank E. Flowers, Zach Baylin and Green, isn’t entirely concerned with the personal, but rather the political, or at least Marley’s symbolic function in politics — but only to a point.
“Bob Marley: One Love” opens with text explaining the violent unrest in Jamaica in 1976, but without substantive details. We are told there are opposing political parties and gang leaders in conflict, though we are not told why, just that Marley is planning to play a peace concert to unite the nation and that it will change his life. It would be nice to know what has sparked the unrest,