Bob Marley: One Love ★★★

BOB Marley probably deserves a little better in his memory than the American biopic Bob Marley: One Love delivers.

The Jamaican wasn’t just a good singer and songwriter; he was an inspirational figure to a generation and beacon for societal change in his native Jamaica at a time when politics was on a knife edge.

The film focuses on the period from the mid-70s when Marley’s influence was at its zenith, to his tragically early death from a rare skin cancer in 1981.

Director and co-writer Reinaldo Marcus Green starts his film at the lead-up to an important concert where Marley is expected to appear and deliver a major statement about political unity and peace.

But their family compound is targeted by would-be assassins who kill a couple of bodyguards and injure Marley and his wife Rita.

They get to the concert, but Marley realises they are no longer safe in their own country. He sends his wife to the United States while re-basing himself in London.

During this period of self-imposed physical exile, Marley continues to spread his messages of peace and love and seeks to re-invent his musical career with a new album that diverges from his usual style and sound.

There are plenty of Marley songs and the story is constantly interesting but there are also a couple of major problems.

The main one is a lack of emotion in the story. We are told a lot about how influential Marley is and how much elements of the Jamaican authoritarian government try to silence his voice, but we don’t get enough scenes that demonstrate these elements.

The flashbacks that are used tend to focus on snippets of his personal growth but still don’t give us the essence of the man.

Secondly, while Kingsley Ben-Adir delivers a pretty good performance, he doesn’t have the physical appearance or sound of a man who smoke marijuana constantly every day of his adult like.

It will make you want to know more about the man, but mainly because it doesn’t tell you enough.

Watched at the cinema.