Written by Burhan Wazir, New Media, DFI

Film: “Marley”
Director: Kevin Macdonald
Stars: Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Rita Marley, Chris Blackwell
Running Time: 144 mins

Several years in the making, and utilising dozens of interviews with key figures, Kevin Macdonald’s documentary about the late, great reggae figure represents something of an achievement for the British director of “The Last King of Scotland” and “One Day in September”. While Bob Marley’s life has been chronicled by biographers before, most notably in Timothy White’s book “Catch a Fire” , Macdonald weaves in the political and the personal to present an enthralling archive of Jamaica and the birth of reggae in the early Seventies.

The result is an immensely detailed and satisfying chronology of Marley’s life, from his humble beginnings in a poor Jamaican town, Saint Ann parish, his relocation to Trenchtown and then the more salubrious neighbourhoods of Kingston, to his early and tragic death of cancer in Bavaria in 1981, aged 36. Marley’s last few years prove to be the most fascinating here – as he grapples with his universal fame and the violence tearing through Kingston.

These days, Marley’s career can often be summed up by a poster – the last king of reggae cuts a smiling, dread-locked figure who features widely in teenage bedrooms all over the world. The musician in “Marley”, however, is a more complicated figure. Born to an elderly white British father, the young singer-songwriter was taunted from an early age for his mixed race heritage. He discovered music as a youngster– and eventually moved to Kingston, where he converted to Rastafarianism to combat his early experience of hatred.

“Marley” is most watchable when explaining the birth of reggae – and the surviving members of The Wailers, his backing group, particularly percussionist Bunny Wailer, carefully recall how some of their best work emerged. One highlight is an interview with notable reggae producer Lee “Scratch” Perry; now with his hair dyed pink, Perry was a formative figure in the sound of the Wailers.

Equally illuminating is Marley’s personal life. By the time of his death, he had produced eleven children from seven mothers. His daily life was similarly chaotic; lines of people would queue up at his home in Kingston, looking for handouts. None went away empty handed. Even the tragedy of daily violence in Kingston did not deter him. Marley was shot in a botched assassination attempt in the city, but persevered to give two free concerts in an endeavor to end the bloodshed.

All of this, of course, is presented with some truly memorable archive footage. As one might expect, Marley’s music looms large throughout, and Macdonald has mined dozens of resources to show the reggae star at work. There is a thrilling concert to commemorate the birth of Zimbabwe (featuring both Robert Mugabe and Prince Charles), as well as tours of Europe and the US. Most stirring, though, are those two concerts in his native Kingston. While his Rastafarianism beliefs no doubt encouraged Marley to spread a message of peace across the world, a solution to the political bloodshed in Kingston was a cause he never abandoned. It is a sequence which demystifies the musician, and the closing credits leave us in no doubt as to how his message continues to resonate today.