Full confession: I love Bob Marley, so a biographical drama about the reggae icon is pure catnip for me. BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE, a charming, personal look at the music giant, is produced by his son, musician Ziggy Marley. Ziggy Marley influenced the casting of Kingsley Ben-Adir, who is excellent as Bob Marley. The drama covers his life, music and beliefs, religious and political, with a special focus on his relationship with his wife Rita, played by the also excellent Lashana Lynch.
The film opens at a pivotal moment for Marley, as he is preparing for a concert in Jamaica that he hopes will soothe heated political tempers in the run-up to an election. The opposite happens, with an assassination attempt on the singer. Moving back and forth in time, the film goes on to follow Bob Marley’s path to international stardom as he brought his reggae-infused music to the world and the world’s attention to Jamaican music.
BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE is not a documentary nor is it the definitive biography. But it is a fine reminder of the man’s integrity and values, and the enduring gift of music he gave to the world.
Kingsley Ben-Adir does a marvelous job portraying Bob Marley, and looks strikingly like him, capturing his movements, performance style and dazzling smile, despite being nearly 6-foot-2-inches tall while the real Bob Marley was just under 5-foot-7-inches tall, although a giant of music.
Shot on location in Jamaican, we get some lovely glimpses of the island’s natural beauty and also views of the hardscrabble, dusty streets where Marley grew up. The film not only covers Bob Marley at this career height, but portrays moments from his earlier life, with two young actors who portray the musician as a small child and as a teen.
Marley’s teen years are when he met his future wife, launched his career, and discovered Rastafarianism, all touched on in these flashback sequences. The early childhood scenes have the symbolic feel of memories and touch on his feelings about his white British father in some visually striking scenes. The flashback sequences give us insight on the man’s formative experiences and a bit on the development of his music.
While this biopic is thoroughly enjoyable, two things would have made it even better: more of Bob Marley’s music and clearer dialog. The concert sequences are among the film’s most enjoyable moments and Kingsley Ben-Adir’s captures Marley’s energetic stage performances wonderfully. The characters speak with Jamaican accents, which adds to the authenticity of this Jamaican-shot drama but there are moments, sometimes long ones, where the dialog is largely undecipherable by non-Jamaican audiences. Subtitles would help, but having the actors slow down a bit and speak a bit more clearly would have been enough to avoid the distraction of subtitles. It is something that comes and goes, and most the dialog is clear enough but still, it is frequent enough that when a clueless British record producer, played by Michael Gandolfini blurts out a “What?” after Ben-Adir’s Marley says something, it gets a big, unintended laugh from the audience struggling with some of the same problem.
This are little things (well, maybe not the wish for more Bob Marley music) and do not significantly detract from enjoyment of the film. BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE is a delightful revisiting of the life and music of the beloved music icon Bob Marley, with a striking performance by lead Kingsley Ben-Adir.
BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE opens Wednesday, Feb. 14, in theaters.
RATING: 3 out of 4 stars
