Yes, I still have three or four gems of films from SXSW I haven’t shared with everyone yet. We’ll get to them. (Fear not: Space Nazis, Time Travel, and the hackers Anonymous all get their due)
But, because it’s 4/20 and it gets a more wide release in theaters today, let’s talk about Marley, the biopic chronicling the life of reggae music’s most important musician, Bob Marley. (for those who think this is about the movie with Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston, and the dog, you’ve landed in the wrong place. Also, the dog dies at the end. Oh. . .spoiler alert?) I caught it near the end of SXSW at the new location of the Drafthouse down on Slaughter Lane. Oh yeah, I’m in love. My new favorite Drafthouse. It also helps that it’s now the closest one to my house.
I was a casual fan of Marley’s music, like most suburban teenage white kids. I knew the broad strokes of Marley’s life– coming from poverty in Kingston, Jamaica (in a government yard in trenchtown. . . ) and becoming one of the world’s most successful and influential recording artists before dying at a relatively young age. So the thing I was most impressed with was to find out just how influential Marley was. I had assumed his influence was mostly relegated to things like getting Eric Clapton to cover “I Shot the Sheriff” and giving douchebags something to listen to so they could appear multicultural.
So I was impressed as hell to learn how his influence helped quell violence surrounding an election in Jamaica and helped bring peace to a war-torn Zimbabwe. Yes, there was once a time when singing “One Love” about Jamaica actually was more than a slick ad campaign for the tourism board and helped prevent what was basically a festering civil war.
Also great was to discover more about his roots, and how he was only partially accepted growing up because of his (absent) British father and his being half-white. In fact, one of the most jaw-dropping moments of the film is when one of Marley’s friends claims that it was the fact that his white genes were weaker, and that was why he succumbed to cancer, since black genes could have fought it off.
It is a fascinating journey into a completely different world that we think we maybe understand. Because, after all, we can kind of sing along with “Buffalo Soldier.” And they speak English in Jamaica, right? Although many people speak with subtitles in the film– thankfully! because their accents are so thick. You think I’m making this up? No, seriously, you will be glad there are subtitles. I haven’t hear English spoken in such a broken and accent-heavy way outside of Louisiana or Appalachia.
The documentary, which I should mention was co-produced by Ziggy Marley, Bob’s son and a reggae musician in his own right, is a warts and all representation of Marley’s wife. It spends a lot of time in interview with both Ziggy and his sister. There were definitely some issues between Bob and his kids as revealed here. Of course, that could stem from the fact that he had 11 kids from several different women, but whatevs.
This film is long, probably to fit so much of this information in, but it feels a bit long. It’s also a bit by-the-numbers– there are no broad themes or amazing truths to be revealed here. It’s just a biography of Bob Marley, but it’s a pretty good one at that.
Perhaps the best thing I can say about this is it gave me a greater appreciation for the man, and made me want to go listen to his music some more. If you’re at all a fan of his music, it’s worth checking out.
Smoke em if ya got em.
And also this:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNkr86zZaP4