Bob Marley was one of the most prolific reggae artists of all time. He rose to fame in the 1970s with his group The Wailers. On Valentine’s Day, “Bob Marley: One Love” was released detailing Marley’s life and his rise to fame.
The movie features Kingsley Ben-Adir as Marley, and he was amazing in the role. I felt he portrayed Marley very well, and he really captured Marley as a whole. Throughout the film, there were times where I had gotten goosebumps from the acting.
I went into “One Love” almost blindly. I could name probably two songs from him before I watched the movie. I also knew he died young. After watching this film, I came out of the movie theater with more appreciation for reggae and Marley’s life.
The beginning of the movie begins with a young Marley and his mother on a bus, moving from home to home. Marley was abandoned by his father at a young age. He was born and raised in Jamaica. A couple scenes later, it shows Marley all grown up, ready to perform his first peace concert. Jamaica was in turmoil from two different political leaders, threatening the peace of the people.
Two days before his peace concert, Marley is at his friends house, when a shooter broke into the house. The shooter shot Marley in the arm and the chest, before running away. The shooter also shot Marley’s wife, Rita, in the head. This scene was very dramatic in the film, I was on the edge of my seat basically trying to figure out if his wife had died. Luckily, she survived.
Even after an attempted assassination, Marley still wanted to play the concert. This was one of the scenes that gave me goosebumps. Marley is on stage, singing one of his songs, when he sees the shooter in his mind. Marley unbuttons his shirt, showing his bandage on his chest, and pointing to his arm. That scene was so powerful to me. He was sending a message to the shooter, and the rest of Jamaica, saying “I’m still here, you can’t take me down easily.”
Throughout the movie, Marley adjusts to his newfound fame and popularity. There’s a montage where it shows him performing in Europe and that scene gave me the chills. It was so cool the way they filmed the montage. The camera work was amazing and the way all the actors worked together really fit the scene.
Towards the end, Marley performs another peace concert. The crowds are massive and the closing scene was Marley walking out on stage with the lights behind him. I felt like that scene really topped the movie off perfectly.
Overall, I would give this movie 4.5/5 stars. Only because since most everyone is from Jamaica in the movie, the accents make it a little hard to understand. Other than that though, the movie was pretty great.
