When it comes to Bob Marley, I often tell people that I did not learn to appreciate his music until I lay swaying in a hammock overlooking the Pacific Ocean, slung between two poles propping up a porch at a hostel in Costa Rica.  Now that I have seen Bob Marley: One Love, I can finally admit that I was wrong.  Back then, I thought it was about just relaxing and having a good time, though I never partook of any illegal substances.  That may be part of it, but it is not the whole message.  “Message,” by the way, is an important word to this story.  This is also not a revelation coming as a result of seeing the movie, though “revelation” is another great concept to keep in mind in relation to the film.  Instead, the realization of my error is the result of delving deeper into his songs, actually listening to the lyrics, and understanding the man of faith behind the melody.  Before continuing, it must be pointed out that there are some important differences between my Faith, Catholicism, and what Bob Marley (Kingsley Ben-Adir) practiced with Rastafarianism.  They have the same root, and there is a long history about which I will not not go into in any great detail.  I point this out to state clearly that I do not want to turn this into a treatise on the problems with Rastafarianism.  As I say, there are parallels.  For me, watching this movie on Ash Wednesday as I did with the Cross on my forehead, I could not help but note the things to which I have alluded, and will elucidate more as we go along.

The first thing you see in Bob Marley: One Love is Ziggy Marley (as himself) thanking you for coming to see the movie and telling you that a member of his father’s family was always present during the filming.  This lends an air of authenticity to what proceeds, which contains flashbacks that I will mostly be skipping over for the sake of clarity.  It actually starts with a flashback as we see him as a boy (Nolan Collignon) being handed a Bible before being sent away to live with relatives after his mom is forced to move away.  We then pick up Bob’s career in the late 1970s as he is being called upon to give a concert in a Jamaica divided in the wake of independence from Great Britain.  With an upcoming election, people purportedly acting in the name of their political party are shooting each other in the streets.  He witnesses this when his daily regimen of running and soccer playing is interrupted by a nearby gun battle.  When he returns home, his wife, Rita Marley (Lashana Lynch), questions the wisdom of playing the event, seeing the violence as aimed at their family.  Bob attempts to wave off her concerns, claiming he is apolitical.  Yet, later that evening, as Rita is leaving to rehearse with another band, three armed men enter the Marley compound and open fire.  Bob is wounded, his manager, Don Taylor (Anthony Welsh), takes four bullets to the torso, and Rita is shot in the head.  Remarkably, what saves her life are her dreadlocks.  This hairstyle is a part of Rastafarian religion, so let it be known that faith can literally save you.  Despite this, two days later they perform in the concert.  In the run-up to the event, and fueled by the use of marijuana (another aspect of Rastafarianism), Bob had been having visions about what might happen.  As a result, as he is coming off the stage, he sends Rita and the children to stay with his mother in Delaware.  Meanwhile, he heads to London in order to begin working on a new album, one that can encapsulate his faith and message.  He spends months before feeling like he needs his wife at his side in order to keep putting out songs about peace and unity.  She arrives, and shortly thereafter comes the song “Exodus.”  This comes after overhearing the soundtrack to the movie of the same name from 1960, and yes, it is Biblically based.  This is the track that brings together the entire record and gives it a title.  With its release comes the tour.  The label expects a series of concerts in Europe and the United States.  Bob also wants to have Africa included in the list of venues, and sends Don to do the necessary scouting.  This is the beginning of many problems for the reggae singer whose popularity is only growing.  The record executives, already overruled on the album covered, see no profit margin in playing the African continent.  Bob claims that it is not about the money.  Yet, while he maintains a humble air, he enjoys the trappings of his fame as he and Rita are fêted wherever they go.  Rita is the one that first calls Bob’s attention to the fact that his surroundings are making it hard for him to live his message.  This happens after they have a fight at a party in Paris, Bob questioning Rita for talking to another guest and she telling her husband that he is losing his way.  One of the changes to take place from this clash is Don’s firing, who had been charging extra for the African concerts and skimming the money off the top.  Finally, Bob learns that he has cancer.  At first, he tries to look at it as a soccer injury.  But when doctors tell him the reason his toe will not heal is because of a rare, malignant tumor, he goes through a period of grief.  It is suggested that if he were to amputate the affected digit, he could survive.  Bob will not have it.  Instead, he comes to terms with his disease, and ultimate mortality.  Thus, he returns to Jamaica to give another unity concert.  On its eve, as he plays “Redemption” song for his family, Rita tells him that “he is ready.”  We close with this event, Bob having visions of being taken away by Haile Salassie (Abba Samuel Tadely).

If you read that last sentence of my synopsis of Bob Marley: One Love and said “Huh?” allow me to explain.  Also, because Bob’s religion is such an important part of his character, you are going to get a double dose of faith-based content.  I will get to the differences first, and it is logical to begin with Haile Salassie.  One of the pillars of their belief system is that Haile Salassie I, the emperor of Ethiopia who died in 1975, was the second coming of Jesus Christ.  To put it in the simplest terms, this is not an idea supported by the Catholic Church, and I will leave it at that thought.  It should be added, though, that this is tied to a rejection of the notion of a blond-haired, blue-eyed Jesus that, it is claimed, is how Europeans see our Lord.  I would point to the Divine Mercy image granted to St. Faustina as evidence that this is not a universal notion, but I digress.  What became somewhat distracting as a Catholic was the use of many of the same titles reserved for Jesus Christ but applied to Emperor Salassie.  What is particularly troubling is the Ethiopian monarch being called “King of Kings,” and “Lord of Lords.”  Rastafarians rely on the King James version of the Bible, which is fine except for the books it intentionally omitted when it was promulgated.  This, too, is a specifically Catholic complaint.  Either way, I appreciated the interjection of Scripture as a basis for much of what is espoused by Bob and Rita.  Still, I am not sure what interpretation of Sacred Text can lead one to say that an actual political figure could be the Messiah returned.  I say this solely in reference to Jesus telling us that His kingdom is not of the Earth.  Please also note that my incredulity is the result of only the slightest bit of research.  I am sure there is a lengthier explanation.  If so, please feel free to comment below.

Still, what Bob Marley: One Love underscores is the parallels between Catholicism, the first form of Christianity, and this new brand of worshipping God.  Whether you call Him God or Jah, as Rastafarians do, the Bible is the source.  This is important.  I follow the Church because, among the many reasons both logical and personal, it is the Faith closest to the time of Jesus.  As the Scripture and verse were being penned and organized into what we recognize today, the Church was being formed.  Since then, people around the world have taken the Word in many different directions.  At times, the Church Universal, which is what “Catholicism” essentially means, has attempted to incorporate these varying visions into Her teachings.  At other times, they have been rejected.  What this does not change is God’s love for all of us.  Many popes, particularly in recent times, have acknowledged the fact that God can work through different traditions, though those outside of Catholicism are fallible.  One might read that last statement as sounding “holier than thou,” but again I would reference the immediacy of the Church to the time of Jesus.  One of the things that strikes me about Catholic thinkers throughout the centuries is how what they have to say about the Faith in the fourth century, for example, is just as relevant in the twenty-first.  Rastafarianism was responding to specific events in the Pan-African experience.  That context should not be ignored.  However, the Universal Catholic Church has walked beside those same people throughout the centuries, and through it and God there is nothing that it cannot heal.  This includes spreading the concurrent message of peace preached by Bob Marley, but for centuries preceding him, by the Church.

Not that this is a “checkmate” argument, but one fact about the king of reggae left out of Bob Marley: One Love is the fact that Bob was raised Catholic.  It was Rita that introduced Bob to the pseudo-Christianity that is Rastafarianism, though he reportedly was baptized into the Orthodox Ethiopian church before his death in 1981.  This is all meant as context for you if you decide to watch a movie that has so much marijuana use you might forget about it entirely.  I could not, which is also an aspect that is at odds with Faith.  Thus, proceed with caution.