2011-12-17 Bob Marley The Making Of A Legend , British Film Institute , London Premiere Review:
As a teenager growing up in London in the 70's music was a big part of my life.
To the annoyance of my immigrant Greek Cypriot parents, i would blast out sounds on my record player at full volume
drowning out their shouts of "Lisa,turn that noise down"!!.
Of all the music genres, Reggae was always and still is my favourite.
I must admit though back then i was not too familiar with the music of Bob Marley and The Wailers, until the summer of 75 when by pure luck there was a spare ticket going to see them at The Lyceum Ballroom (as it was known then) in London.
It was the 18th July and by that time two of the original Wailers, Peter and Bunny had left the band which was a shame as i would have loved to have seen them perform all together.
Whatever spell Mr Marley put on me that night almost 37 years ago i have from that day to this been an ardent fan so much so that my son has the middle name Marley and my daughter the middle name Kaya!!!!.
Over the years i have amassed a large collection of memorabilia and have read almost every book written about him.
Unfortunately his untimely passing at the young age of 36 means that all that can be written has been written, anything new is non existent, until now that is.
We live in the age of technology which some say can sometimes be a curse, but i for one would never have heard about a new film called "Bob Marley The Making Of A Legend" had it not been for the internet as there had been very little publicity through other media forms.
I could hardly contain my excitement when i found out that a lady named Esther Anderson along with Gian Godoy had made a film based around lost footage
which Esther had filmed in the early 1970's and had gone missing for 37 years only to turn up in a garage in Canada and duly returned to her.
This never seen before footage depicts the part of her life spent with the legend that was and is Bob Marley, her struggle to get him and The Wailers recognition
and the sacrifices she made with her own career as an actress trying to launch the career of the man she loved.
Through the phenomenon that is facebook i struck up a friendship with Esther which lead to me attending the premiere of her film and
actually meeting the remarkable lady herself!!..
Saturday 17th December 2011 dawned grey and cold in London Town, nothing extraordinary for the middle of winter in England it could be said,
except this was no ordinary Saturday.
It was the day that i was going to see a film which had never been shown to the British public before about the lives of two people one of which i had admired and adored musically for almost 37 years.
I arrived at The British Film Institute at The Southbank at 1pm.
I was collecting my tickets from the box office when i noticed this tiny little lady milling around in the crowd.
It was unmistakably Esther Anderson.
I made my way to the theatre took my seat and waited for the first film to begin. It was a documentary about Sunsplash Rotodom from Osoppo.
I found it quite interesting as it was about the reggae scene.
Then it was time for the main feature to begin,this was it, this is what i had been waiting for,for so long
Something new about Mr Bob Marley.
Esther came on stage to introduce the film.
What first struck me when this lady started speaking was her bubbly almost animated character, she finished speaking and the film duly started.
I was to spend the next 90 or so minutes going through every emotion imaginable .
From laughing out loud watching Bob pulling faces at the camera
To feelings of extreme sadness because this messiah of a man on the screen who had been such a big part of my life for so long
From the point of view that not a day goes by when i don't listen to his music, was actually no longer with us in the flesh and hasn't been for many,many years, but here he was in front of me large as life having a debate with Peter Tosh, unrehearsed and unstaged, just two young men conversing about nothing in particular!!.
Another scene sees him jamming with The Wailers laughing and joking.
I saw a young Bongo Makey then an interview with his now ageing Widow surrounded by family speaking about how her husband used to sing a song called 'fly away home' which Bob then reworked and retitled it Rastaman Chant.
I found the part of the film about Ras Daniel Hartman particularly interesting as lots of shots by the waterfall of him throwing his baby up in the air have been seen before but went wrongly credited until now, its about time
After all that's said , what this film depicts most of all is a love affair between two young people that was captured on camera many years ago,
when Bob Marley was a virtual unknown and has been brought to light and shown at a time he is a global mega star who tragically didn't live long enough to see
what an impact he has had on Roots Reggae music and the world!!!!!!.
- Lisa Petros-Koumi
A Special Thank You to Esther Anderson, Gian Godoy for kindly allowing this page
