Bob Marley accomplished a great deal in his brief life, no doubt about it. He popularized reggae music, released records that have sold over 75 million copies worldwide, established himself as an iconic megastar, and promoted harmony and peace. In his prime, he passed away at the age of 36. He is ready for a biopic, and Reinaldo Marcus Green, the director of King Richard, gives him a very respectful one. This is a credible and honest account of Marley’s adult life, though it seems to be careful not to delve too far.
It starts in 1976, with Kingsley Ben-Adir’s character Marley already well-known. In his native Jamaica, which is violent and sharply divided politically, he is a national hero and has cracked America. Marley will perform at a “Smile Jamaica” concert in an effort to bring people together without using politics. Two days prior, Marley is hurt during an attempted assassination, and his wife Rita (Lashana Lynch) is hospitalized. Marley takes the task nonetheless. One Love is a portrayal of Marley discovering his position as a man who can unite people in addition to being a singer, and whose own life exists to improve the lives of others.
It’s not so much an examination of a guy as it is a chronology of occurrences.
The major themes of the time are covered by Green, including some highly hilarious sequences in which Marley and his Wailers are refining the sound for their upcoming album, Exodus; stress on his marriage as a result of the demands of fame; a collision of cultures in punky ’70s London; and a hero’s welcome in Jamaica. However, it’s not so much an examination of a guy as it is a chronology of events. Though the screenplay remains undeveloped, four authors are credited for the movie, including Terence Winter, who wrote Green and Wolf of Wall Street. It hardly scratches the surface of Marley’s more nuanced aspects of existence. His numerous extramarital offspring are raised in a street fight with his spouse, but are otherwise disregarded. His early years—the most of his life before 1976—are briefly and vaguely mentioned in flashbacks. It is hesitant to give depth or shadows to its luminous portrayal of Marley, which makes it isolate its own subject.
What’s more, Ben-Adir does a fantastic job portraying Marley. Although he doesn’t physically like the real man, he captures both the explosive, exuberant on-stage character and the laid-back, languid appearance. He has a convincing portrayal of a man who, while appreciating celebrity, also rejects it since he is aware of both its positive and negative effects. Additionally, he maintains his accent when many others around him start to lose it. He is one thing to love in a movie that largely follows a tried-and-true format.