[INFO] Bob Marley, the documentary

[Rastaman1980]

For the love of money-O' jays Full Version - YouTube


all the best
patrick

[marco]

this is what Roger Steffens thinks about the docu:
" I think the word that best describes the film is ‘sanitized. I’ve been involved with this project from way back when it was [director] Jonathan Demme’s film. Then Kevin Macdonald came aboard and made a gorgeous, fast paced, deeply moving film, but I have certain critiques about things that should have been included in a film that is almost two-and-a-half hours long.
I ended up being an associate producer on Demme’s film because of all my different contributions. But on this film I’m just an archive consultant, though I provided a lot of material for the film. Macdonald came to my house to see the archives and talk about the direction of the film, and I was in constant touch with his staff.”
Copyright?: BOBMARLEYMAGAZINE FORUM http://www.bobmarleymagazine.com/forum_bmwm/showthread.php?t=61821
“It wasn’t so much them [Blackwell and Ziggy Marley] who wanted me as it was Macdonald. Because he ended up using so many things from [my] archives – photographs, audio tape, video, film and the [famous disintegrating] ‘Bedroom Tape’ I found at the home of [Bob Marley’s mother] Ms. [Cedella] Booker. There was a wide range of things they needed from me and I think it was Macdonald’s project.
The theme of the film is rejection and alienation in Bob’s life. Over and over they talk about how he was rejected by people, made to do all the dirty work from the time he was a little [bi-racial] kid in Nine Mile, how he was an outcast and rejected. But what was the biggest rejection in the life of Bob Marley? What is the most important abandonment that explains so much of his later life, that you cannot understand Bob’s life without knowing this fact? Bob Marley was abandoned as a child by his mother and father on the streets of Kingston at the age of five.
It was almost a year-and-a-half before someone from Nine Mile saw him and told his mother where he was. The abandonment on the streets of Kingston is the essential fact of Bob’s life because it informed his [lifelong] empathy for the sufferers of hideous poverty. He could have turned very bad very quickly as a five-year-old left to fend for himself. But he didn’t. And they don’t even mention this in the film! Come on! That’s why I say [this film is] sanitized.
Kevin has said in his interviews that he wanted to present the human side of Bob Marley which is why there are no complete songs. So for the story they wanted to tell, I think they spoke to many of the appropriate people. But here you have a film about the most important Third World star in history and the fact that he won the United Nations Peace Medal of the Third World on behalf of 500 million Africans [in 1978] is not even mentioned.
There are also a few other minor problems. For instance, the documentary also refers to The Wailers’ three female back-up singers – Rita Marley, Judy Mowatt and Marcia Griffiths – as “The I-Threes” when it was Ms. Griffiths herself who once scolded me for doing the same, telling me their proper band name is “I-Three.”
That is not the kind of error you want in a film that claims to be “definitive.
You know, the majority of people on the planet today were born after Bob Marley died,” Steffens says. “I think the planet’s median age is 23 or 24 and Bob has been gone now 31 years. This film is meant for those people, not those who know all the facts. I do like this film – don’t get me wrong – but it has some major gaps and it is not entitled to be called the definitive look at the life of Bob Marley.

[joe]

sounds very similar to the feelings I had about the film after my very first viewing.

The exclusion of Bob being abandoned by his dad is beyond unacceptable. Kevin lost my faith in the documentary after that. It was so blatant to me the second they moved on with the film and it was not mentioned. In fact at that point in the doc., I was expecting it to be brought up at any moment and then they simply moved on.
Copyright?: BOBMARLEYMAGAZINE FORUM http://www.bobmarleymagazine.com/forum_bmwm/showthread.php?t=61821

Go back and watch that very part of the film where this is being discussed. There are several places this info could have been presented either verbally or in on-screen text. And it would not have added one more second to the final cut.

And like Rojah says, they obviously spent a lot of time on rejection, alienation and abandoment. It's simply puzzling.

There is a reason it was not included. For the life of me I can't comprehend what that reason might be. If it's about sanitizing, what sanitation is accomplished by ommiting that info? It's the facts of Bob's life. It happened, it was major event in his life. To me it shaped who he became and a large part of why he bacame the person he was. It's why his relationships with others (friends, females, kids) were the way they were.

It's sloppy work. Sloppy editing and I believe the film's subject was too big to grasp for Kevin McDonald in such a short amount of time. I would be curious to know the level of knowledge Kevin had about Bob and The Wailers before he began work on this film. I've assumed (and may be wrong) that it was not much. I've assumed "they" tried to cram 36++ years of the most important musician's life into Kevin in 1 or 2 years. He was learning as he was going.

I've now watched the doc about 15 times. I notice more and more every time. Most of what I notice is sloppy editing. To be the "definitive" documentary....lol

[marco]

Joe, don't you think that the interviews with Costance Marley and Peter Marley and the very moving moment while they listen to "cornerstone" is someway a way to tell the story of Bob and his absent father?
Yes, Kevin could have explained better that important event in Bob's life but I think that all the people, audience, at last have understood the meaning of the "cornerstone" sequence: Bob was abandoned by his father and this caused an abandoned child syndrome
Bob was also abandoned by his mother (she went in Delaware when Bob was very very young) but I think that Kevin didn't tell this story to respect the memory of Mother Cedella and the Marley family

[joe]

Originally Posted by marco

Joe, don't you think that the interviews with Costance Marley and Peter Marley and the very moving moment while they listen to "cornerstone" is someway a way to tell the story of Bob and his absent father?
Yes, Kevin could have explained better that important event in Bob's life but I think that all the people, audience, at last have understood the meaning of the "cornerstone" sequence: Bob was abandoned by his father and this caused an abandoned child syndrome
Bob was also abandoned by his mother (she went in Delaware when Bob was very very young) but I think that Kevin didn't tell this story to respect the memory of Mother Cedella and the Marley family

Hi Marco, great question!

First off, I know I'm coming off like a broken record and I assume everybody is sick of hearing my thoughts about this documentary. I actually have stayed away from the topic for the last month or so. It was only Roger's thoughts on it that got me going again.

To answer your question(s). For starters, I felt the Peter Marley interview(s) were pretty much useless. The guy does not know much and what he does seem to know he's wrong about (i.e. Norval). Even when he listens to 'Cornerstone' his thoughts on it are meaningless. Basically he understands how that song might be about a certain situation. That situation being Bob and Rita being turned down by the Marley clan for money for a car. That's what prompted Bob to write the song. I'm sure he kind up wrapped up all his feelings in the song but it was born out of being told no by the Marley's on lending them money to distribute their records.

On the other hand I felt Constance's interviews were terrific! Her extremely enlighting thoughts on the song after hearing it blew me away. This lady gets it!!!!

Now you ask me....don't you think that the interviews with Costance Marley and Peter Marley and the very moving moment while they listen to "cornerstone" is someway a way to tell the story of Bob and his absent father?

No absolutely not. There was no reason to come up with "someway" to tell that part of the story. Kevin should have flat out stated the facts of what happened either through an interview or on-screen text. Those interviews do not give any indication to the uniformed viewer that Bob was abandoned by his father at age five for 18 months in the Kingston ghetto to not only fend for himself but also another frail human being. The viewer will never know that extremely important piece of the story. Why, because it was never revealed, plain and simple. It was never presented. A viewer should not have to read between some blurry lines to put the whole story together. And if they have to, they will never infer from any of the interviews that Bob was abandoned at age 5 by his father to care for himself and another person. You say Kevin could have explained that part better. I say he never explained it at all. It was never mentioned or brought up. They did talk about Bob not really knowing his father and his father was absent etc... what they never mentioned was how Bob's one and only biological father promised he and his mother a better education in the city only for his one and only dad to abandon him to care for himelf and another frail human being. Like I said before, can you imagine the thoughts that went through Bob's mind as he lay his head to sleep each night? I have a five year old....I can't imagine. Anybody who has had children knows how important this age is the development of a child. This is when the thoughts and feelings about things are born and the individual is developed. It really starts a little after birth but age five is a tremendous time in a person's developmental life.

Anyways, my appologies for yet another rant. I promise I'm through. I've said my piece. I'm in total agreement with Roger Steffens about this doc..

One Love

[marco]

Originally Posted by joe

Now you ask me....don't you think that the interviews with Costance Marley and Peter Marley and the very moving moment while they listen to "cornerstone" is someway a way to tell the story of Bob and his absent father?

No absolutely not. There was no reason to come up with "someway" to tell that part of the story. Kevin should have flat out stated the facts of what happened either through an interview or on-screen text. Those interviews do not give any indication to the uniformed viewer that Bob was abandoned by his father at age five for 18 months in the Kingston ghetto to not only fend for himself but also another frail human being. The viewer will never know that extremely important piece of the story. Why, because it was never revealed, plain and simple. It was never presented. A viewer should not have to read between some blurry lines to put the whole story together. And if they have to, they will never infer from any of the interviews that Bob was abandoned at age 5 by his father to care for himself and another person. You say Kevin could have explained that part better. I say he never explained it at all. It was never mentioned or brought up. They did talk about Bob not really knowing his father and his father was absent etc... what they never mentioned was how Bob's one and only biological father promised he and his mother a better education in the city only for his one and only dad to abandon him to care for himelf and another frail human being. Like I said before, can you imagine the thoughts that went through Bob's mind as he lay his head to sleep each night? I have a five year old....I can't imagine. Anybody who has had children knows how important this age is the development of a child. This is when the thoughts and feelings about things are born and the individual is developed. It really starts a little after birth but age five is a tremendous time in a person's developmental life.
One Love

I must admit you are right!

[marco]

According to Cedella's facebook page:
One week from today, Bob Marley Movie Blu-ray & DVD comes out, rolled with new footage.
http://www.blu-raydefinition.com/rev...ay-review.html

[Bombora]

So I went to pick up the blu-ray. Not sure if this is standard (depending where you buy it from or not) but from Best Buy there was also a bonus dvd that included 3 songs from Live at Manhattan Center. The quality of the Manhattan Center is amazing. I can't believe they haven't put the rest of it together for a complete dvd. Unless they don't have the full concert. Its an amazing teaser if there is more to come. There is a longer full interview with Bunny talking more about The Wailers that is really nice, and more interviews with Ziggy, Cedella and also Stephen. There is also a part where several people listen to an unheard Marley tune, which is really just him goofing around with some girls and someone recorded it, but it's really cool to hear very few have probably ever heard of Bob before. I don't want to give too much away for those that don't have it or it isn't released by you yet. However, if you didn't see it yet, or are wondering if you should buy a hardcopy, I'd say it is well worth it. I wish there was more bonus stuff, but everything they did decide to put on is very nice and is well worth it.

[fabio]

http://www.kiowacountysignal.com/com...012-DVD-Review

Bonus Features

The DVD has several bonus features, including a short feature titled Around The World, in which folks from various nations talk about how Bob Marley inspires them. It starts in Jamaica, with students performing his songs, and talking about what his music means to them. It then goes on to Brazil, Japan, Kenya, Ghana, Tibet, India and Tunisia.

There is also an extended interview with Bunny Wailer (19 minutes). I love his recounting the story of hearing "Simmer Down" (the first single released by The Wailers) played for the first time. And in a segment titled "Children's Memories," there are more interviews with Bob Marley's children - Stephen Marley, David "Ziggy" Marley (about how he got his nickname - two different stories), and Cedella Marley.
Copyright?: BOBMARLEYMAGAZINE FORUM http://www.bobmarleymagazine.com/forum_bmwm/showthread.php?t=61821

Another special feature is titled "Listening To 'I'm Loose.'" This shows several people listening to a personal recording on head phones, and their reactions. This is a recording I've never heard, and on it Bob Marley is using his music to flirt with a girl, and we also hear the girl reacting.

And there is a photo Lyrics (includes photos of many of the people who were interviewed for the film), as well as the theatrical trailer.

The DVD's commentary track is by director Kevin Macdonald and David "Ziggy" Marley (who is one of the film's producers).

[marco]

so only the blu ray version contains the 3 songs from Manhattan Centre as bonus DVD