The Last King of Jamaica

Marley

***½  out of ****

Directed by: Kevin Macdonald

Running time: 144 minutes

Marley is a new documentary that chronicles the life of a shy Jamaican boy with an angelic voice whose anthems of love and freedom turned him into one of the world’s most revered musicians. It is a film fit for a legend and one of the finest and most comprehensive music profiles ever constructed.

This scrapbook of jovial interviews, electrifying live performances and insightful dissections of Marley’s career, unlike its subject, never drags.

He was born Robert Nesta Marley in Nine Mile in Jamaica, a decrepit village surrounded by exotic, hilly farmland. His community rejected him for his mixed ancestry – his father was an English Marine captain and colonial overseer, while his mother was of Jamaican descent.

When he was 12, Marley moved from one shantytown to another. He took up residence in Trench Town, a densely populated Kingston slum. Marley would play sweet melodies, pure and true, around the slum, gaining popularity.

He could not sell as a solo artist, however, and needed a group to widen his musical pursuits. Marley formed a ska group that went through many names before becoming the frontman for The Wailers, whose heavy vibrations of bebop made him a big radio star.

Many lively sources, dressed in colourful regalia, were interviewed for the film, including Wailers, managers and other musicians in the Jamaican music industry and Marley’s lovely wife, Rita.

These folks remind the audience that Marley, known as a compelling frontman, full of writhing intensity, was a shy and reserved young man. He had stage fright early on in his professional career. Nervous to perform onstage, Marley decided to practise at cemeteries in the thick of night.

Early photographs of the musician show him with crewcut hair. His iconic dreadlocks signify his eventual ties with the Rastafari movement, which preached independence and self-confidence, as well as ganja.

His spiritual revitalization turned him into a deeply focused musician and energetic performer, hungry for rhythm and harmony. Marijuana may have been his drug of choice, but music was what made him high.

Macdonald’s film uses its access with close family and friends to construct an enlightening, if not always positive, view of the reggae legend. His daughter pouts about his moody temperament and inability to relate to his own children in their formative years.

Meanwhile, others proudly recall Marley’s importance to Jamaican and African audiences, and his attempts to be a peace broker between opposing political groups in his home country.

Marley’s director, Kevin Macdonald, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2000 for One Day in September, a gripping record of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre. The doc was unfortunately marred by the tasteless inclusion of rock music over photos of the victims’ bodies at the end.

12 years later, Macdonald makes up for this jarring audiovisual mismatch by bringing depth to the images of his latest venture through Marley’s music.

We see the squalor, the spiritualism and the political struggle that influenced Marley’s musical journey while hearing the songs that resulted from these moments in his life. The strong blend of sound and image makes the film an immersive and powerful one.