Review: ‘U.S. vs. Lennon’ preaches to musician’s choir

Directed by: David Leaf and John Scheinfeld

Featuring: John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Walter Cronkite, G. Gordon Liddy, George McGovern, Ron Kovic, Geraldo Rivera

Rated: PG-13

Now playing: Through Nov. 21 at The Moxie Cinema, 408 W. Walnut

My views on the subject of John Lennon are somewhat biased.

Lennon’s influence on my generation and my life can’t be understated. His music and philosophy have shaped my value system in more ways than can be counted.

That said, I think I can still be objective in a lot of ways about “The U.S. vs. John Lennon.”

My criticism, for starters, is to say it’s closer to being a History Channel or VH-1 TV show than a motion picture. And the writers/directors are obviously preaching to Lennon’s vast and devoted choir.

But there is a relevancy to the film that can’t be ignored. The parallels of the Nixon/Vietnam era and the political climate today are obvious. Many people are surely longing for a voice like Lennon’s – or the late Hunter S. Thompson’s – to be haranguing the 2006 powers that be.

The film doesn’t delve much into Lennon’s pop star history and focuses mainly on his late- and post-Beatle years. He had become somewhat of a self-loathing pop star by this time, and while many other artists – from Bob Dylan to Jimi Hendrix – were using music as a political tool, Lennon did so with more of an avant-garde approach. He had been cultivating that style with The Beatles after meeting and partnering with Yoko Ono.

Fellow Beatle Paul McCartney made the most commercially successful records of the post-Beatle era, and George Harrison surprised many with his compelling solo work. But Lennon’s music proved to be the most intriguing and cathartic of the ex-Beatles, and his political/philosophical views were always present and brutally honest.

Lennon’s overt honesty is what got him into trouble. The Nixon administration had an “enemies list” that ranked Lennon higher than his status on the record charts. After it was discovered he had a minor conviction for marijuana possession in his native England, the U.S. government went to work to mark, malign and remove Lennon from these shores.

The film shows a somewhat naive Lennon coming to terms with his status as an enemy of the state. He says, “It’s somethin’ about me face,” as to why he’s always been a target for certain types of authority.

The directors begin to incorporate more of Lennon’s political music as the film progresses. One of the most revealing scenes deals with Lennon’s song “John Sinclair” and the events surrounding Sinclair’s drug-related jail sentence. The power of the song and Lennon’s celebrity helped Sinclair gain some leniency while making Lennon even more of a target for Nixon’s paranoid political machine.

Sinclair as well as other radicals of the era – Angela Davis and Bobby Seale among them – weigh in on Lennon’s impact with recently taped interviews, while file footage of Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman offers a glimpse of how strange things were at the time.

It’s Ono, however, who provides the most insight. This should come as no surprise, because Ono was indeed closer to the man than anyone.

The home movie footage of the couple, with Lennon giddily happy with their newborn son, Sean, shows still another side of the artist. His own childhood had been marked by the tragic death of his mother, Julia, and his relationship with his son, Julian, from his first marriage seems to have been a strange one. But, by all accounts, Sean was the joy of Lennon’s life. Only the hardest hearted won’t find a tear in their eye when the song “Beautiful Boy” graces the soundtrack of the film.

The Beatles were much more than a mere pop group and did as much to shape the state of the world as any other artists, politicians, pundits or poets of the time. And Lennon, who was always regarded as the band’s social conscience, is well represented in this film that was obviously made by members of his undying fan club. “The U.S. vs. John Lennon” is a must see for fans.

Jim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician. He can be reached at info@wunderlesound.com.