Robert Nesta Marley is one of the 20th century's most iconic figures. Revered not only by music lovers around the world,but by whole generations of Jamaicans and Africans alike.
As a youngster growing up in Scotland I've got to admit reggae kind of passed me by. There weren't the multi-cultural radio stations that now give us a taste of everything from all over the world. In Scotland we lacked access to a lot of "world music" and had to be content with Radio Clyde's top forty run-downs or the latest home-grown acts of the time. Inherently racist,Scotland unfortunately never really embraced reggae,certainly not at my school. It took The Police and their "white reggae" to bring the sound to a…

I found this documentary very interesting (which is always a good thing for a documentary to be!) I really liked it for the most part; I learnt a lot about a musician I've always liked, listened to, and knew snippets about. I came out of the other end of this documentary with a greater understanding of its subject matter but also feeling entertained too.

The only problem I had with Marley was that it doesn't really go too far into how much of a womanising misogynist he could be at times. It does show that a little bit, the stuff with his wife and daughter is a bit depressing and seems a bit raw/hard for them to talk about for…

Film #10 of The December Project

I liked this mostly because of how nostalgic it made me for my childhood. I grew up listening to Bob Marley and reggae music at least once a week with my dad and my brother in the living room. We would dance and play guitar right along with his recordings. I mention this because I was pretty much guaranteed to like this before I ever saw it.

As a documentary, I think it's probably just average. I don't watch a ton of documentaries so I don't have a great frame of reference, but Marley felt almost too comprehensive and formulaic. It's 2.5 hours long and goes through his entire life, even though it was…

I'm not a huge fan of Reggae but much like anyone I do love the music of Bob Marley. Told by the people who knew him best, Kevin Mcdonalds documentary spans the life a of the legend. From the Jamaican hills and slums of Kingston where he was born and grew up to his fragile final days in a rural german clinic being treated for the aggressive cancer that would eventually claim his life.

Mcdonald masterfully balances the music with Bobs personal life and the political turmoil that engulfed Jamaica at the height of his career. It shows how Marley affected everyone around him, from his nearest and dearest to the thousands influenced by the transendant message of his music.…

46/100

One extraordinary moment: Macdonald has a couple of Marley's white relatives listen to "Cornerstone," the song he wrote immediately after being rejected by their side of the family, and we watch their expressions transform as they sit there attached to tiny iPods. "Am I allowed to talk?" the woman asks halfway through, looking visibly upset. Other than that, an utterly generic birth-to-death portrait, devoid of even the cut-rate Errol Morris touches that enlivened One Day in September and Touching the Void. Kids, friends and Wailers crowd the list of producers, so nobody's gonna delve too deeply into the question of how much Rastafarianism contributed to Marley's refusal of treatment that would almost surely have saved his life, or do…

"Marley" is about as ambitious a documentary as Kenneth Lonergan's "Margaret" is a narrative film -- and like the latter, it's a rich, exhausting, ultimately rewarding portrait of emotional connection through music and the power of bringing people together. Of course, brilliant as "Margaret" is, you can't say it isn't depressing as fuck. But, holy shit. We're not here to talk about "Margaret".

Kevin Macdonald had a tricky task in coming at the legacy of an elusive person with "Marley". Rather than outline the caricature of Bob Marley or invade family privacy, Macdonald through eyewitness accounts (family and Wailers band members, etc.) goes for something deeper than the artist himself; to remind us of the peace and unity Marley strived…