Synopsis:
In 1976, amidst armed political conflict that is affecting daily life in Jamaica, Bob Marley announces he will perform at a concert, Smile Jamaica, promoting peace amongst the warring factions. While preparing for the concert, Marley, his wife Rita, and several other members of his band are shot by assailants. Rita and Marley are hospitalized, but survive and recover from their injuries in time for the concert. After performing, Marley, saddened that his own countrymen would try to kill him and his wife, shows the crowd his bullet wounds before walking off stage. He tells Rita to take their children to Delaware in the United States and stay with his mom, as he and the rest of his band venture to London.
After struggling to come up with a new album concept, Marley asks Rita to rejoin him and the band in England, and taking inspiration from the soundtrack of the film Exodus and their own situation, he and the band begin recording what would become their album of the same name. The album becomes a hit and helps further popularize reggae music and the Rastafari movement around the world. When the recording company schedules a tour in Europe, Marley also aims for stops throughout Africa to inspire the people there. This leads to friction with Rita as she and Marley argue about his responsibilities and both his and Rita's infidelities, in addition to having given up on promoting peace back in Jamaica. Marley also gets into an altercation with manager Don Taylor over a financial dispute.
After a toenail infection raises concern from Rita and his record producer Chris Blackwell, Marley is later diagnosed with a rare skin cancer. Blackwell confronts Marley about treatment choices, reluctantly dismissed by a firm Marley. Faced with his own mortality, Marley reconciles with Rita and Taylor and finally decides to return to Jamaica in 1978, where he is welcomed back by a crowd at the airport. Back home, the gunman who had shot him and the others arrives and begs for forgiveness, to which Marley states he "keeps no vengeance". After Marley debuts a song to Rita and the children about reconciliation, she finally deems him ready to perform a peace concert. The film ends as Marley and his band gear up to perform again for the Jamaican crowd with the song "One Love".
A pre-credits montage shows clips of the real Marley and his band during the One Love Peace Concert, which sees them joined on-stage by the heads of both of Jamaica's political parties, also revealing that Marley and his band were able to perform in Zimbabwe to celebrate the nation's independence before he died of his cancer in 1981 at the age of 36.
Cast: Kingsley Ben-Adir as Bob Marley | Quan-Dajai Henriques as teenage Bob | Nolan Collignon as young Bob | Lashana Lynch as Rita Marley | Nia Ashi as teenage Rita | James Norton as Chris Blackwell | Tosin Cole as Tyrone Downie | Aston Barrett Jr. as Aston "Family Man" Barrett | Anthony Welsh as Don Taylor | Sevana as Judy Mowatt | Hector Lewis as Carlton Carly Barrett | Michael Gandolfini as Howard Bloom | Nadine Marshall as Cedella Malcolm | Umi Myers as Cindy Breakspeare | Naomi Cowan as Marcia Griffiths.
Release: January 23, 2024 (Carib 5) | February 14, 2024 (United States)
Country: United States
Budget: $70 million
Produced by: Robert Teitel | Dede Gardner | Jeremy Kleiner | Ziggy Marley | Rita Marley | Cedella Marley.
Directed by: Reinaldo Marcus Green
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