Last weekend, I had the pleasure to view a film about one of the most prolific reggae musicians of all time, the very own Robert “Bob” Marley. Bob Marley: One Love was released in theaters on February 14, 2024 to high reviews from audiences worldwide. The film currently sits at a 92% percent audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.com, which reflects the amazing amount of work that went into its production.
Bob Marley is played by English actor Kingsley Ben-Adir. He is joined by actress Lashana Lynch who plays his wife, Rita Marley. Anthony Welsh plays Bob’s record manager, and Michael Gandolfini plays a minor character named Howard Bloom, a music based author and publicist who supported Marley during the prime of his career.
Kingsley has had acting roles in other recent productions, most notably portraying one of the Ken’s in 2023’s ‘Barbie’ as well as playing a character named Russel in the short lived 2020 TV series ‘High Fidelity’ a new take on the movie of the same name. He also portrayed Gravik on the Disney+ series, Secret Invasion.
The film plot consists of Bob navigating through the troubles of musical super stardom while having to be a witness to his native country of Jamaica’s political as well as economical battles. Early on in the film, Bob travels to England in order to find a safe place to record his newest single after a failed assassination attempt on him by a member of an opposing political party. This attempt was just two days before Bob played a unity benefit concert in Kingston to ease tensions in Jamaica.
As Bob stays in London, he acquires an ensemble of musicians to help him and his band ‘The Wailers’ record a new song of peaceful protest. The group came up with the hit song “Exodus” which is an instant sensation, and they spend a world tour with Bob as he finally finds his true purpose as an artist to unite the world through music.
The cast of this film did a great job in trying to bring the real life success of Bob Marley to the big screen, and I also feel that this film is personally worth giving a watch due to its messages of creating a new peaceful world through sound. Bob Marley: One Love is a must see for all of the reggae music and Bob Marley media fanatics who are interested in seeing a film based upon the career of one of the genres most prominent stars.
