Paramount Pictures release the third trailer for the “Bob Marley: One Love” movie on the 47th anniversary of the Smile Jamaica concert. An event that was headlined by Bob Marley & The Wailers two days after he was shot at his 56 Hope Road Home in the suburbs on Kingston, Jamaica. The gunmen who invaded his home also injured Marley’s wife wife, Rita, and his manager, Don Taylor. The assassination attempt and the concert will take center stage in the movie set for global theatrical release February 14, 2024.
The Smile Jamaica Concert took place on December 5, 1976, at the National Heroes Park in Kingston, Jamaica, with the objective of addressing political violence. Bob Marley made a remarkable recovery and, along with The Wailers, delivered a 12 track 90-minute set to the 80,000-strong audience in attendance at Jamaica’s National Heroes Park.
In the backdrop of escalating political conflicts leading up to the 1977 Jamaican general election, tensions between supporters of the leftwing People’s National Party (PNP) and the pro-US opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) were intensifying. A state of emergency was declared in June, and in October, the Ministry of Culture organized a free concert to promote unity and ease tensions, inviting Marley to participate. Marley, keen to maintain neutrality, imposed conditions to dissociate from the PNP, changing the venue to National Heroes Park and creating the uplifting theme song “Smile Jamaica.”
Despite Marley’s political neutrality, the JLP perceived his involvement as an endorsement of the PNP, especially after the general election was moved up to December 15. During rehearsals at his home studio, Marley, along with his wife Rita and two others, was shot by assailants suspected of having links to a JLP.
The film directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green is set to tell the story of Marley and give audiences around the world for the first time and insight “on what it was like to be around the legend, to see his pain his sorrows his joys and his redemption,” according to a release.
Green said the film is set in 1976 to 1978, a period where Marley and his former Wailers band mates Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh were at odds. Rita Marley explained in her memoir No Woman No Cry: My Life with Bob Marley that he had invited Bunny Wailer and and Peter Tosh to join him on stage but they refused because of the politics surrounding the event.
Prime Minister Michael Manley and the PNP, was backed by the USSR and was friendly with communist Cuba. Meanwhile, the CIA had allegedly backed the JLP. Manley was viewed as a communist (socialist) sympathizer, and his government became part of the proxy Cold War that risked increasing the Soviet contagion of the Caribbean. Marley was starting a revolution and needed to be stopped.
Chris Blackwell, Bob Marley’s former label head at Island Records outlined in detail how he was summoned to a meeting at the US Embassy in Jamaica to discuss Marley’s “approach to making music.” He also stated that the attack on Bob Marley was “possibly by proxies of the C.I.A attacking Bob and his entourage because of his apparent ties with Prime Minister Michael Manley.” In Bob Marley’s song “Rat Race” from the 1976 album “Rastaman Vibration” he sings ” Rasta don’t work for no C.I.A”.
Other than Bob Marley and the Wailers, the concert also featured Third World, Ras Michael, Kiddus I, and Bunny Rugs. Elaine Wint, a media broadcaster, served as the emcee. An unreleased film of the concert was made by Carl Colby, son of former CIA director William Colby.
Despite the shooting, Marley fulfilled his promise to perform one song (“War”) which actor Kingsley Ben-Adir said he used as preparation for his role as Marley in the movie. The crowd in National Heroes Park was uncertain if he would appear until his arrival. Though unable to play the guitar due to his injured arm, Marley sang for 90 minutes, even rolling up his sleeve to show the crowd his wound, declaring, “Bang bang, I’m OK.”
