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Marley
This weekend I had the opportunity to watch a new film called Marley about the life of Bob Marley. As a fan of reggae I have seen quite a few short movies on his life and music. This movie is in theaters as well as on iTunes now. The film is probably the most extensive film I have seen in a long time and weighs in a little over 2 hours 24 min. The film was put out by Magnolia Pictures and executive produced by Ziggy Marley and Chris Blackwell of Island records.
The documentatry is shot beautifully, combining current intereviews and past footage together. Of all of the stories I have seen or read on Marley this is the one that describes the mans lifes the best. Starting in his early years as a youth and the struggles he had with a white father he really did not know, all the way through his career and how those things in the beginning which caused problems brought him full circle. Wanting to escape Trenchtown he turned to music as a way out. Later in his life he came back to Jamica to help reunify the country even if it was just symbolically.
As the film unfolds you can also see the transformation of the man through his words and religion to something much greater. Marley was far from a perfect man, having 11 children with 7 partners. But the importance of his music seemed to outweigh any wrong doings.
Bob died in 1981 at the early age of 36 from Melanoma cancer. His music touched many and continues today as a powerful reminder of what an impact music can have on our lives. As a musician myself there is one line from his music that has always rang true for me -“one good thing about music, is when it hits you feel no pain”.[1
This movie is worth it !