Major Music Icon’s Biopic Hits Netflix’s Top 10

Bob Marley fans can watch his 2024 biopic on Netflix. The reggae legend’s life story is currently available on the streamer and reached No. 8 in the Top 10 movies list.

The film, Bob Marley: One Love, was released 33 years after the icon’s death. His widow, Rita Marley, and children, ensured they took their time with the project. One Love, appropriately titled after one of his biggest hits, chronicles his dedication to peace. The film also highlights his long and sometimes complicated marriage to Rita. She is portrayed in the film by Lashana Lynch.

Lynch, who has Jamaican ancestry, was hesitant to portray Rita in the film. She told PopCulture in an interview at the time, “I did not want to take the role at the beginning. I didn’t want to be responsible for misrepresenting my own culture, misrepresenting a legend, a woman that deserves all of the things. And that was before I even got into the meat and bones of two she actually is,” she said firmly. 

But after speaking with the film’s director, Reinaldo Marcus Green, who promised her the movie was a chance to put Jamaica at center stage in the right way, she had a change of heart. “I wanted to be a part of something that was going to fully do that and execute that in a way that made me proud to be a Jamaican and proud to come from the people that I come from,” she said.

By the end of its theatrical run, One Love earned $180 million worldwide and received mixed reviews from critics. A review from The Guardian gave the film two out of five stars, and noted that despite the star studded cast, it struggled to deliver. 

“This is a reverent Hallmark Channel-type film made with the family’s cooperation – there’s hardly a relative here without an associate producer credit – and of course it has all the musical rights,” the review notes, likening it to the network’s feel-good vibes.