arfdawg-1
Bob Marley's universal appeal, impact on music history and role as a social and political prophet is both unique and unparalleled. (Really???)The definitive life story of the musician, revolutionary, and legend, from his early days to his rise to international super-stardom. Made with the support of the Marley family, so you know there won't be any white washing.There is rare footage, incredible performances and revelatory interviews with the people that knew him best.Apart from the interviews with Marley -- who is so stoned they had to include subtitles -- the movie is horrible.You'd have to be obsessed with Marley to like this film.
SnoopyStyle
This documentary is directed by Kevin Macdonald (Last King of Scotland) about the iconic Bob Marley. It has a lot great music, and educational for the everyday casual fans. I'm sure their most ardent fans know all these stories. At 144 minutes, it is quite long for most people. It flows well especially the last half. Lots of things start to happen. One thing I do have to warn people. It's necessary to get used to the tough Jamaican accent. It could get difficult to understand. There was a lot of talking heads interviews. But in the end, the music is great, and the history is enlightening.
Samuel Richards
Saw this in Korea (with Korean subtitles) on the screen in August 2012. I was already familiar and sympathetic with the highlights of Bob's life, the basic ideas of Rastafari, its ties to the Bible, African power movement. From this vantage point, I watched and very much enjoyed the documentary. In fact, after maybe 30 minutes, after watching some of Bob's moving performances - like a mix between a very enthusiastic evangelical preacher, a rock star, and a Yoruba/African trance priest, very much a unique product that could only have come from his roots - I was unable to sit down, and ended up going to the aisle of the theatre to dance with his music. He's got the "juice" or the "power", and the documentary masterfully blends these well-selected performances with interviews from some entertaining and eccentric characters from his life, including fellow artists such as the righteous Bunny Wailer. These interviews were the other emotionally and intellectually moving aspect of the documentary that kept me on my feet and with tears in my eyes at moments, like a revival! Powerful stuff.On the other hand, the documentary hinted at the political and religious ideas which set the foundation for his life, but did not adequately discuss either of these. It gave a brief hint that Rastafari is not about chillums and dreadlocks (note: these are secondary, not core, components of the belief system), and a brief description about the belief system, but it seemed necessary to know how these beliefs tied in with political ideas, since it was apparent that Bob's political ideas were central to the path he took, in Jamaica and abroad. It hints that his political ideas have something to do with Africa (with the visits from Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie I, mentions about Jamaicans being united as former slaves, and the concert in Zimbabwe which was tear- gassed), but even a short discussion or interview about his political ideas would have lent a better context to the events portrayed in the movie (maybe the director could've replaced some of the rather pointless clips of chillum smoking with this background information). I'm going to have to go to google after writing this review to learn more about this, as the movie piqued my curiosity...Also, as another reviewer suggests, the documentary probably doesn't do a satisfactory job of introducing someone who is unfamiliar with Bob and the related movements to the man and his work (since to many people, he's a poster boy for m*rijuana smoking and dreadlocks). Maybe introducing his political/philosophical ideals as a subtext for his life and work would have clarified this - again, the documentary hints about the power his ideas held for audience members, particularly in Jamaica, but leaves exactly what these ideas are as an unsatisfactory blank.Still, the documentary was very moving given my already somewhat sympathetic/researched vantage point. If you're interested in learning more about the man behind the college dorm posters, or Rastafari in general, I can recommend it as a starting point. Maybe it's a good thing to keep in mind that the people depicted (in Jamaica) are only a few generations descended from slaves taken from Africa, Africa is seen as the "Promised Land" to them, and their current predicament is seen as parallel to the predicament of the Jews in the Old Testament, and they similar Biblical parallels for their current situation. This may help clarify the context in which Bob Marley's life played itself out.
