The Bob Marley and The Wailers took place at the W Hotel in London’s West End. Island Records, who Bob Marley was signed to, hosted the screening. As a music lover I was intrigued to find out the facts from the people Bob Marley was the closest to, and about the life of the man who brought reggae music to the worlds attention.
The film directed by Kevin Macdonald and produced by Steve Bing and Charles Steel is the first authorised documentary from the Marley family on the life, and universal power of one of the world’s most influential singers. This is the first time his family have let anyone use their own private archives, allowing a unique window into the heart, mind and soul of the singer, songwriter, musician and activist.
The basis of the film was to look into how Bob Marley still speaks to the world even after his death in 1981, and how he does this more intensely than any other music artist in the world. Macdonald talks about the questions he asked himself before directing the film, “Who is this man? Why did he become so successful? What was the message that he had to give out to people?” With the help of the Marley family which included Rita (his wife), his children (Ziggy and Cedella), other family members, friends and musical colleagues the film was able to go into depth and give us a full insight into the life and character of this legend, making me laugh, smile, and feel sad at different moments of the film.
Interviewing people so close to Bob Marley some who had never been interviewed before really gave a true insight into his earlier years, which have never been documented before. There was no footage of the first 11 years of his career, only a handful of photographs. Neville “Bunny” Livingston who along with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh formed the Wailers, and Neville Garrick the Wailers artistic director were the two key interview subjects in the film. The people who had never been spoken to before came in the form of one of his closest white cousins Peter, and Dudley Sibley who was the recording artist and studio janitor of Studio One and Chris Blackwell the founder of Island Records.
The film touched on Bob being mixed race, and the stigma of growing up in Jamaica attached to that. Rita was also questioned about the fact he had other girlfriends, and showed her gracefulness, even though you could see she dealt with a lot of pain, but she never stopped loving him. Cedella’s interviews were moving, where you could see this also caused her pain seeing her father hurting her mother like this, and the fact she couldn’t remember a time where she was alone with him. Both of these family members forgave him, knowing that his message and what he was doing was important.
Another unique insight was provided in the documentary when it showed the connection between Bob’s rejection by his white uncle, and the song ‘Cornerstone’, with the lyrics ‘the stone that the builders rejected, is the cornerstone’ taking on a deeper meaning and significance. Crucially, the documentary also interviewed his white first cousin Peter, and explained this connection between his father’s rejection of Bob, and one of his greatest hits.
The film was a great insight into not just Bob Marley the musician and superstar, but him as a man, getting up close and personal. I walked out of it feeling satisfied and grateful that I now knew so much about him. I feel ashamed to admit before I went in; I barely knew anything about his background like many. He was such an inspiring and mysterious character, but now with the help of this film, we can truly understand why he did what he did and what motivated him and made him one of the biggest artists of all time.
Stream the soundtrack to the film below
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