MARLEY plays Hot Docs

Almost fifty years after “The Wailing Wailers” first introduced us to the voice of Bob Marley, what could possibly be left to say about the reggae legend? As it turns out, the answer to that question is “An awful lot”.

MARLEY is an exhaustive look at the life of an icon. It leaves no stone unturned, detailing not just the man’s life, but the family life he came from, the community he grew up in, the roots of his religion, and the genesis of his music. All of this comes over and above Marley’s actions and decisions. We hear from a wide array of people on all things Jamaican, Rastafarian, musical, and Marley. So many voices sit down to tell their part, and if there is one commonality to them all, it’s that they don’t seem to tell it so much as they testify.

A man like Marley has that effect on people. All these years later, for those who were there and to those who weren’t born, the man has become a prophet – someone to be exalted and worshipped…and that’s part of what gives the film it’s edge. The documentary isn’t out to deify Bob Marley; matter of fact it underlines several ways in which the man made bad decisions. It’s an unexpected impartiality, especially considering the family and the label participated fully with the notion that this would be the Bob Marley documentary.

What’s equally interesting for a documentary about a musical giant is the way the music is almost secondary. The songs are there of course – it’d be crazy for them not to be – but they mostly become the backdrop for the story to play out. We learn about stories from the road, and his place within the music scene as time was passing, but the film has very little interest in deconstructing the songs themselves or discussing their legacy. The music is front and centre during Marley’s rise, and during discussion of the reggae sound, but there’s no talk of the in’s and out’s of “Get Up, Stand Up”.

This decision – to focus on the man instead of the music – is what sets the film apart. The music has been discussed ad nauseum for forty years, so its influence and structure can be pored over in countless written work and previous films. What hasn’t been fully explored is who Bob Marley was…who he was to his mother, his wife, his children, his bandmates. Who he was to people who were related by distant blood and name. The connection these people had to Bob – and sometimes the connections they didn’t have – is unlocked in a way it never has been on film before. Such honest emotion is what elevates this film above a commentary track on a man’s greatest hits.

This film brims with joy, at times it broods with frustration, and ultimately it goes hushed with sadness. It keeps Bob just out of reach, smiling and speaking to us only sporadically. Strangely, as we look back, it’s a fitting decision. He already told us his story, in words, music, and actions.

Now it’s time for everyone else who was there to take their turn.

MARLEY plays today – 3:30pm at Isabel Bader Theatre, and once more on Saturday May 5th – 8:15pm at The Bloor. (official website)