by Howard Campbell
SOUTH FLORIDA – There was a solid turnout of South Florida’s finest at Regal Cinema in Plantation on February 15 for the showing of Bob Marley: One Love, the Paramount Pictures biopic based on the reggae king’s life.
Blue Mahoe Capital Partners Inc., the Orlando-based investment firm, teamed with Jamaica’s Consul General to Miami, Jamaican Men of Florida and the Jamaica Tourist Board to provide tickets for patrons to see the movie which opened worldwide the previous day.
Show of Support
David Mullings, CEO of Blue Mahoe Capital Partners Inc., described the response as “Unbelievable!”. He hailed the joint initiative that brought out over 800 patrons in three theaters.
“Jamaica’s culture is its biggest export, this is what we are known for and we have to support our culture, and the people who are putting their money where mouths are to support that culture,” he said.
Bob Marley to the World
Oliver Mair, Jamaica’s Consul General to Miami, agreed. For him, “It was an excellent evening. The community came out in support…I saw a lot of people crying. Bob died at 36 but he was able to take our culture to the world and continues to impact people.”
Others attending the event were City of Miramar mayor Wayne Messam, former Broward County mayor Dale Holness, and broadcaster John “John T” Hodgson of WAVS 1170 AM.
Bob Marley: One Love, which stars British actors Kingsley Ben-Adir and Lashana Lynch as Marley and his wife Rita, grossed over $50 million in the US in its opening week, according to Variety.
The movie had a production budget of $70 million.
It reflects on the Rastafarian singer-songwriter’s life between December, 1976 when he was shot at his Kingston home; 1977 when he lived in London on self-imposed exile; to early 1978 when he returned to Jamaica for the One Love Peace Concert in April that year.
Mullings, who staged a similar showing in Orlando the previous week, was seeing the movie for a third time.
“I love it. I think it’s great,” he said. “I like the time period they chose there are a lot of things about Bob Marley, especially that assassination attempt, that people don’t know.”
