Movie Review: Bob Marley/One Love Needs A Little More of It
Going into One Love, I was excited. Bob Marley was a revolutionary, in part, because he was so chill. He was fun, bombastic, sweet, and wrote songs about love and peace that actually stirred the virtues. In perspective, it is a tricky energy for a biopic. How do you make a film on a man that was so light and approachable he, inadvertently, caused change? Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green, One Love is not exactly as exciting as one would want, but its cast is mesmerizing.
Jubilant energy is not always the easiest energy to film or embody. I think it is why we are all obsessed with people like Paul Rudd, Pedro Pascal, or Colman Domingo; they just emanate sweetness via their personality and art. Kingsley Ben-Air totally captures Bob’s smiley, easy-going nature, but he was not a saint, which is why we loved him. First, he slept with half the planet, and MAN could he party. The film kind of ignores that side of Marley as if it was sinful, but, in some ways, it is what made him so fascinating as a social revolutionary. He truly was a man that wanted to enjoy life, make songs that sung to and protected that joy, and marvel at how people could feel so threatened by it. The film’s achilles heel is that it tells us Marley was a unique revolutionary, especially during a period when Jamaica was caught in the thralls of gang violence and political turmoil, but it does not make us FEEL it.
The film moves like one of those music documentaries with re-enactments of the artists´ life, minus the voice-over commentary. You know Bob is special, but the writing just does not seem to launch a story that is, which is disappointing, because the cast is amazing. Lashana Lynch as Rita is lovely, and becomes an emblem of solidity and stability in Bob’s life and the audience. When Lynch is on screen she radiates and gives a cool vivacity that I wish had been given more to play with; after all, Bob was a ¨Casanova of sorts, and it would have been fascinating to see how she played Rita’s powerful presence in a situation that could make any woman crumble. Yet, even Marley´s battle with cancer felt fleeting and not fully touched upon, which, again, cuts the fact that they have the PERFORMERS to emanate how these human beings were good, flawed, and scared, despite their determination.
In some ways, I felt the film wanted to sanctify Marley, and there was no need. He really was a good, human being that became a living legend and an unexpected icon because we forget that some of the biggest revolutionaries …… were chill. From MLK to even Jesus, these were people that used their peaceful words to fight against fists and bullets, and left an impact that is eternal. As the father of Reggae, Bob did the same, which is why the last thing anyone thought would take him so young, from us, would be his own body. Out Feb 8.
