By Portia B
You can’t help but smile when Executive Producer and Bob’s eldest son Ziggy Marley pops up on the screen. A smile beams through his full beard as he speaks of the film and almost daily presence on set. He explains how authenticity will centre what we’re about to see.
And he didn’t disappoint! Though created with Marley’s global fan base in mind, at its core, this film was a love letter to Jamaicans. To have this filmed on location and led by the Caribbean Diaspora added an important layer not even the dearest studio set could replicate.
Though silly to state the obvious, it’s crucial in an era of misrepresentation. Be it Cool Runnings, First Wives Club, How Stella Got Her Groove Back or The Little Mermaid, the media is saturated with farcical ideas of what it means to be Caribbean. Instead of reducing our differences to punchlines, this film treats patois and true Jamaican accents with the depth and nuance they deserve. They are just as main a character as any other role on screen. Subtitles or definitions aren’t present nor needed.
One can’t capture the layers of a character when focused on the disingenuous ways they exist. But this solid foundation lets viewers enjoy this biopic free of common distractions. An almost unrecognisable Kingsley Ben-Adir showcases the liberal, dedicated, and at times too easy going persona of the late reggae singer. Many would fail to play a convincing Marley as they poorly copy his stage presence and connections to Rastafari. Instead, Kingsley encapsulates the deep, personal ties Bob had ancestrally, to his family, and the well being of Jamaica.
The spirit of Rita Marley radiates through Lashana Lynch. She strikes the perfect balance of her talented, affectionate, and grounded personality. Through her performance, viewers remember Rita as so much more than Bob Marley’s wife. Lashana’s presence is just as melodic and cutting (in the best way) as the patois flowing from her tongue. In scenes filled with relief, tenderness, and downright frustration, Lashana reminds us how she became BAFTA’s 2022 Rising Star.
The film doesn’t shy away from Bob’s difficulties. His humble beginnings, estrangement from his father, and shifting ideas of success occupy the same amount of space as his love for football, dedication to peace, and the undeniable bond between him and Rita. As the film weaves to and from his childhood and the height of his career, we learn of his trauma without being beaten over the head with it. One Love fills you with laughter as much as it riddles you with concern when characters are at their most vulnerable.
While One Love isn’t the first to show us in a nuanced, positive light, its global reach compared to its predecessors cannot be ignored. For one of the first times as Jamaicans, we exist beyond the jerk chicken eating, dutty wining caricatures that plague films and television. To see us on screen beyond comedic and sexual tropes is the representation we desperately need. To show our hardships without triggering us into a therapy session is a feeling I want us to encounter more often.
