What does the new movie One Love say about Bob Marley's legacy?

This week, the highly anticipated biopic about Bob Marley was released in theatres. Titled Bob Marley: One Love, the movie explores a few years near the end of the musician's life, when he left a Jamaica on the verge of a civil war and wrote his ninth album Exodus.

What separates Bob Marley: One Love from other biopics is its full support from the Marley estate. The film is produced by three of Marley's children — Ziggy Marley, Rita Marley and Cedella Marley. 

According to Ziggy, the purpose of making One Love was to share his father's message of unity, which transformed his music into a symbol of social justice around the world. 

Jamaican culture critics Marlon Palmer, Danae Peart and Dalton Higgins join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to review One Love and talk about what impact this biopic has on Bob Marley's legacy.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow the Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud podcast on your favourite podcast player.

LISTEN | Today's episode on YouTube:

Elamin: Marlon, maybe I'll start with you on this one. What did Bob Marley mean to you growing up? 

Marlon: Growing up, Bob Marley meant representation. Especially as a Black kid, as long as you have some sort of positive connection, I find people tend to gravitate to you a lot easier. I realized in hindsight that it was almost like a survival thing. People are going to look at things like Cool Runnings or Bob Marley, and attribute them to you and your personality. And it was great that Bob was somebody that could be attributed to my personality, because some other cultures aren't so lucky in their representation.

Elamin: Danae. What about you? What did Bob Marley mean to you growing up? 

Danae: Bob Marley, for me, is a cultural icon. He is the reggae ambassador. I was a child growing up in Jamaica. I only came here at age 21. I grew up in Kingston 11, in the fringes and the inner cities. Bob Marley spoke to and for us. His lyrics such as "dem belly full, but we hungry." All of those were clarion calls for those of us who live the life he grew up in and his life arc served as a little bit of hopefulness for us. 

Elamin: I'm really interested in how this movie has a conversation with that idea of Bob Marley. We're going to get to that in a moment. But, Dalton, let's close this out on Bob Marley and what he meant to you growing up?  

Dalton: My dad had a mega large collection of vinyl records, so Bob Marley records were a staple in my household. And I also think that because Bob Marley popularized Jamaican culture and Rastafarian culture so much, I think that in some way made me feel more confident. I had my hair in locs for over 20 years. And I think that is sort of an unconscious byproduct of Bob Marley.

Elamin: The movie's out now. All of us have seen it. Marlon, I'm gonna start with you. What did you like about it? 

Marlon: First of all, costume and set design I think needs to be applauded because they did really well. It felt very consistent throughout the entire movie. So kudos to them for that. They nailed a lot of Marley's iconic looks. I loved how the dynamic between him and Rita grew throughout the movie, like they started becoming more and more believable, especially when it all leads up to that club argument.

Elamin: Dalton, we were talking before we went to a screening like, "I don't know, man, I don't know if they're going to do this right." Then you came out being like, "Okay, I see the vision." Where are you at with how [British actor Kingsley Ben-Adir] does this? 

Dalton: On the one hand, anyone who thinks that playing Bob Marley in this super high pressure biopic, is an easy gig, is off their rocker. This is a really tough gig. Having said that, Kingsley Ben-Adir — his performance was very good. It was fantastic. And again, I'm coming at this as a proud Jamaican.  

Elamin: Danae, I want to give you a moment to address the cringe face that you just made after we played that clip. What I was watching is Kingsley himself becoming a bit more comfortable with the character. But when you were watching him, what stood out for you? 

Danae: Obviously I'm going to cringe. Born and raised Jamaican, came here at aged 21, I will cringe. And the parts you played were the cringey parts for me. He actually did better. So I appreciate the work that went on behind the scenes to create this, and I must give kudos to the Jamaican broadcaster and speech coach Faye Ellington and the Jamaican language unit at the University of the West Indies who worked behind the scenes with Kingsley and [Lashana Lynch] to get them up to snuff. 

But there's just too much evidence of Bob online. This is the problem. It's so much evidence of Bob as an icon. Did way more interviews than a lot of icons. So it's very hard for you to pass off certain things.

Elamin: So Ziggy Marley was asked about his decision to cast a non Jamaican actor as Bob. He said, "We looked far and wide."

He's got a lot of reactions with those comments within the Jamaican diaspora, because some people accepted that explanation and then some people didn't and listed actual Jamaican actors that they thought would have been great choices. I'm curious how you felt about his reasoning, the explanation that he gave, Danae. 

Danae: Bob, as a character, would have made the actor. So I must emphasise that Bob is the icon. Bob is the star. Bob is the leading man. Anybody who takes that on should be honoured and should mould into it. So it is just frustrating to hear this, especially when I think about Jamaican actors that are qualified and have been trying to get in [the industry]. And, if they can't play Bob. What do we have left? If the Jamaican icons aren't played by Jamaicans. What do we have left?

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Ty Callender