Worth: $15.00
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Cast:
Kingsley Ben-Adir, Lashana Lynch, James Norton, Tosin Cole, Anthony Welsh
Intro:
… there are enough recreated concert scenes that take us back to that glorious indelible music that lifts your heart as you leave the cinema.
At its crux, all significant art is rooted in a religious, or quasi-religious, impulse. The great Bob Marley certainly understood this. Although we might have to be kind in not looking too coldly on some of the idiocies of Rastafarianism, including the decision to trust Jah over medical science when diagnosed with a perfectly curable cancer.
What matters though is the art and his connection to the natural mystic, which carried his and the Wailers’ sound across the world and across the ages. This somewhat belated and well-constructed biopic does capture the spirit of the man and his music. And what music it was, as it poured out of him in his most productive years in the 1970s. As the film sketches in, this output ranged from early dance music to rebel anthems (such as ‘Get Up Stand Up’ and ‘War’), and on to perfectly-honed pop songs like ‘Three Little Birds’ (was there ever a sweeter melding of message and melody?) His last recording ‘Redemption Song’ is shown here in a simpler in-formation fireside version. One strange omission is ‘Buffalo Soldier’, another late work that is a quintessential Marley song.
The film tells the life more or less chronologically, starting in the poorer suburbs of Jamaica and travelling through the Island Record years (with Chris Blackwell here played by James Norton) and ending with global reach once the music caught fire.
The film is held together by two very strong performances which track the central, sometimes troubled, relation of Bob (Kinglsey Ben-Adir) and his wife Rita (Lashana Lynch). Rita was also one of his background singers of course, but it is their life away from the stage that provides the most emotional scenes.
The film doesn’t shy away from the fact that this gentle, world class stoner could also be a womaniser and an infuriating husband. The central performance by Ben-Adir is captivating and looks set to catapult him to stardom. Beefier in stature than Marley, he nevertheless captures his drive and determination in steering the sometimes fractious band through to commercial success. It wasn’t just about fame though. When asked by journalists what drove him, Marley would say – in his characteristic slurred patois-influenced vocal style – that he was about sharing the One Love that unites humankind. And, as far as we can tell, this was largely true. It is certainly the line the film takes. Of course, it has to steer a narrow path between hagiography and insight and that does necessitate glossing over incidents and missteps.
It is also now about fifty years on, and the film has to communicate to a generation more familiar with Ziggy than Bob (Ziggy gives the film his stamp of approval and even appears at the front of the picture). The film doesn’t outstay its welcome and there is always enough going on to draw us through. Crucially too, there are enough recreated concert scenes that take us back to that glorious indelible music that lifts your heart as you leave the cinema. Maybe in a way, Jah did provide.