Bob Marley is an icon for Stoners and Jamaicans worldwide, but the latest Bob Marley film might be different from what you expect but that’s not a bad thing.

Music biopics have been a big selling point for Hollywood over the last several years and now it’s time for Bob Marley to get his turn in the latest music fest Bob Marley: One Love. The catch of this movie is that your enjoyment of the film will depend on how big of a Bob Marley fan you are going into the movie.

There are pros and cons to having people close to the artist such as family members being in charge of the film’s creative direction. On one hand, you would like to have the most accurate portrayal of the character possible, a perspective that can only be held by people who knew that person such as a close family member. 

On the flip side, the negative is that because family members are more lenient towards omitting more problematic elements of the story, audiences could be left with a film that is half as interesting as it could have been. Bob Marley: One Love is set in 1976 at the height of the Jamaican political unrest that affects life for the island nation’s inhabitants.

Marley announces he will perform at a concert promoting peace amongst the warring factions but because his call for peace is seen as an act of rebellion, Marley, his wife Rita, and several other members of his band are shot by assailants. While all the victims survive the attack, Marley Is distraught that his countrymen would try to kill him and his family so he tells Rita to take their children to the United States as he and the rest of his band venture to London.

It is during this European tour that Bob Marley and his group finds worldwide Fame becoming a cult of personality in a time of massive unrest.  However, it takes little time for Marley to receive a positive reaction from the European audience to get to Bob’s head and he begins to question why he got into the music industry in the first place.

Bob Marley’s One Love is an imperfect film that has its share of successes along with its share of flaws. Kingsley Ben-Adir plays the role of Marley in the film And does a great job at bringing the character to life however for audiences who are not familiar with the Jamaican accent a common complaint will be about the fact that his character can be hard to understand at times which has brought forth questions about whether some parts of the movie should have been subtitled.

LaShawna Lynch is also in the film playing Bob Marley’s wife  Rita in what is a change of pace from what we see from her.  Lynch has been cast in Far More masculine roles as a female actress so seeing her in a role that requires a motherly sense of femininity can be a bit jarring at times.

The biggest sticking point with this movie is the fact that this is not a full-fledged Rise and Fall Story of Bob Marley. The central plot takes place at a very specific point in Bob’s life and gives very abridged versions of other important details.

Audiences who are going into this movie looking to learn who Bob Marley was as a person will find themselves missing a lot of key moments that the film did not explore. Bob Marley’s faith is a topic that the movie brushes up on as briefly as it can.

Marley who was raised Roman Catholic then entangled himself into the Jamaican base cult called Rastafarianism and helped popularize the cult to worldwide prominence before reverting to the Ethiopian Orthodox church right before his death. Because the filmmakers didn’t want to offend some of Marley’s most hardcore fan base who are to this day remain Rastafarian means that the film was tiptoeing along a lot of important issues that were critical to address.

Despite the flaws of this movie, this isn’t a film that audiences will not enjoy.  The film has an upbeat Vibe going for it was just a good job of blending the drama with the music of Marley into what is a satisfying conclusion. 

When it comes down to it, Bob Marley’s One Love is a film that is going to bring forth different emotions from different people.  At the end of the day, your enjoyment of the movie depends on what you’re expecting to get out of it.

Some audience members will find a very satisfying Biopic While others will feel like the film falls short. No matter how you feel about the finished product, Bob Marley’s One Love is a film Worthy of checking out and letting your interpretation drive your opinions on the film.

2.5/5

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