Marley
A FILM BY KEVIN MACDONALD
By far the most comprehensive and
compelling Bob Marley documentary ever produced, Marley is surely
the definitive look at the man the New York Times called ‘the most
influential artist of the second half of the twentieth century.’
Many years in the making and produced with
the full cooperation of Marley’s family members, a number of whom appear
as interview subjects herein, Marley was helmed by Kevin
McDonald, the Academy Award-winning director of The Last King of
Scotland and State of Play. He brings a deft touch to
proceedings and the end result is both an impeccably edited and superbly
rich complement to the poet-prophet whose work continues to inspire
millions of people the world over.
Covering Marley’s turbulent upbringing in
Jamaica’s Trench Town, his early years with the Wailers and eventual
breakthrough to the mainstream a decade later, to the years of rabid
superstardom, innumerable love affairs, the rise to the status of icon
and his eventual untimely death from cancer at the age of 36 - Marley
charts the songwriter’s entire journey with an unflinching though
not unaffectionate candour, complemented throughout by a wealth of
well-chosen and frequently rare interview, concert and behind the scenes
footage.
MacDonald has a clear reverence for his
subject, yet the end result is far from unthinkingly partisan: rather
the goal from the beginning of the project was to paint a rounded
portrait of Marley as a man, not simply as the near-deified
musician-prophet he later became, and in this aspect and many others the
film is an unqualified success.
MacDonald’s contention that prior to the
present undertaking ‘nothing good has really been made in terms
of a documentary about Bob’ is a little unfair - Bob Marley: Rebel
Music springs to mind as a worthy contender, and even trumps
Marley in regards to studio footage and interviews with Bob’s wife
Rita - yet this film still stands as a thrilling and inspiring
exploration of one of recorded music’s last true immortals.
Bonus Features
A 12-minute interview with director Kevin
McDonald.
Available on Blu-ray and DVD October
24th 2012
