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‘Firebrand, poet and heart-throb’: how the film One Love captures the truth about Bob Marley
I was at the reggae superstar’s side before and after he escaped assassination. The new film took me back to this time, of love triangles, London punks and cold war conflict
Marketing emphasis then shifted again with the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, when Universal began positioning him as the revolutionary pan-Africanist he always was (10 Bob Marley Protest Hits That Remain Powerful Today was one such post on its site). Photograph: Chiabella James/Paramount PicturesMy own first real-life lessons from Bob came before the point at which the movie begins, when I was a junior press officer for Island Records – then a hip indie label – looking after the Wailers, Burning Spear and Aswad. Too much information for a film designed to bring Marley to the masses of all ages, perhaps, but helpful in understanding his courage, faith and deep bonds with the dons: men so like him, but more deeply trapped in lethal circumstances dictated by distant superpowers.
Or read this on The Guardian
