Film: Bob Marley: One love
Cast: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Lashana Lynch, James Norton, Tosin Cole, Umi Myers, Anthony Welsh, Nia Ashi, Aston Barrett Jr., Anna-Sharé Blake, Gawaine “J-Summa” Campbell, Naomi Cowan, Alexx A-Game, Michael Gandolfini  Director: Reinaldo Marcus Green  
Director: Reinaldo Marcus Green
Rating: 3/5
Runtime: 104 min

This film barely scratches the surface of Bob Marley’s life. The platitudes are all there but the narrative doesn’t dig deep enough nor does it make the experience weighty and unforgettable. This film encapsulates just a few critical years of Marley’s life with brief, repetitive ‘flashback’ forays into his deprived childhood. Yet, surprisingly it does manage to get right into the heart of the lion who refused to back off even when staring death in the face. Reggae artist and peace proponent, Bob Marley deserved a much deeper biopic but we’ll make do with this hagiography just as well.

Bob Marley, reckoned as one of reggae music’s greatest singer/songwriters and performers, lives on through his lyrics and his peaceful Rastafarian beliefs which centered around the I and I philosophy. That’s mainly what Marcus Green’s narrative circulates.  His protest songs and love songs play on in the story while Marley goes about his business making a name for himself, away from Jamaica - after he was forced to abandon his home following a botched assassination attempt days before his ‘Smile Jamaica’ concert meant to bring peace between two warring factions. His unforgettable legacy to the world of music and the world at large comes through quite succinctly here.