When I was a kid, my Dad made me a CD of carefully curated “happy songs” as he called them. He played them for me in the car while I listened in my car-seat. Songs like “Fun, Fun, Fun” by the Beach Boys, “Island in the Sun” by Weezer and “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley were my personal favorites. I don’t really remember any specific car rides where we listened to the CD, or dancing in my room at two and three years old, but those songs are still with me, and forever will be. That is the best thing about those songs, they never do leave you.

Going into the theater to see the new biopic “Bob Marley: One Love” I didn’t quite know what to expect. Aside from hearing “Three Little Birds” a hundred times growing up, I did not know anything about Bob Marley.

 On the way to the theater my Dad explained that he discovered Bob Marley in high school in the 90s and that, in his opinion anyway, Marley’s music crosses generations and demographics because the message of the music is primarily about love, unity, and fighting oppression, ideas that almost all people can identify with. 

The actor who played as Bob Marley is Kingsley Bendair. He took the difficult role to a whole other level and had an amazing impact on the film.

The movie covers a roughly three-year period toward the end of Marley’s life that highlights some highs like his album “Exodus” and lows like surviving an assassination attempt. All of this occurs while he works towards finding the right message for a unity concert in his native Jamaican town, which is on the brink of civil war.

Throughout Marley’s life, as a rising star, he had people that were out for him and it put many of his loved ones in danger. Nonetheless, he persevered and continued to push for what he believed in, which was peace for his country.

The movie overall gives viewers an inside look of the challenges Marley went through. Even through adversity he continued to inspire people and bring light into the darkness with his music.

This movie overall made me open my eyes and realize that everyone has a story. Before seeing the film I had no idea how much trauma Marley had gone through to get to where he was. The movie represents Marley’s life and his journey up until his death in 1981 from cancer in a very moving approach.

Music is the great uniter, and despite all of the political turbulence going on in Jamaica at the time, Bob Marley himself united the country. He was not just a musician but a hero.