untitled
THE
U.S. vs. JOHN LENNON
Directed by: David Leaf & John
Scheinfeld
Written by: David Leaf & John Scheinfeld
Internet
Movie
Database Entry for full details
GRADE: C (1.7/4)
2006.
Nostalgic in the worst of
possible ways, The U.S.
vs. John Lennon is yet another entry in the ongoing series
of films that would function better as Wikipedia entries.
Nothing more than a glorified VH1 special—the fact that it
enjoyed a theatrical run is downright stupid—it’s a tired highlight reel of all the big events of the American
1960's (the Kent State massacre, the Democratic Convention in Chicago,
etc.) set to the tune of John Lennon’s solo records.
It's another pitifully disingenuous depiction of the late
‘60s/early ‘70s, the kind that refers to that shallow fraud
Abbie Hoffman as a “radical activist” and, by the way,
doesn’t even acknowledge that G. Gordon Liddy, who holds a
peculiarly prominent talking head position in the film, is a convicted
felon.
One way the filmmakers attempt to compensate for their own vacuity is
by providing ostentatious mangled photo collage backdrops for
the interviewees, who were apparently interviewed in front of a
green-screen; another is through gimmicky graphic effects.
What am I, an idiot? An artfully edited collage of John
Lennon interviews could have been interesting, even enlightening, but
instead we’re offered a feature-length episode of
“I Love the ‘60s; John Lennon Edition”,
with the insufferable Michael Ian Black replaced by the, well,
insufferable Geraldo Rivera. You'd be better off Netflixing
the Dick Cavett interviews, readership.
The film’s ostensible purpose, to illuminate
Lennon’s political career, is pretty thin and primarily covers
a surprisingly brief period of his life, the early seventies.
Lennon, near the end of his tenure as a Beatle, became politically
energized and compelled to use his celebrity to speak out against the
War. (That’s the Vietnam War.) The
perpetually paranoid Richard Nixon saw him as a threat to his
re-election, so consequently the US Government not only tried to deport
him, but Hoover’s FBI began to spy-on and intimidate him,
measures that now only reaffirm his position, to his fans (like the
filmmakers), as the patron saint of rock n’ roll.
Wanting to have it both ways, the filmmakers try to present Lennon as
both a radical activist/threat to Nixon’s political career as
well as an innocuous artist just speakin' his mind. Jounralist
Tariq Ali rightly chuckles on camera when
asked if Lennon was a threat to the country, as it’s a notion
as laughable as the film itself. But then hey Msr. Leaf &
Scheinfeld, what was the first hour of your film about? Lennon
was harassed because
Nixon was a nut, not because he was changing the world and undermining
the status quo; the movie concedes this, but then it doesn't.
It’s a funny prank when John
& Yoko give a press conference underneath a bag, but no
one was taking that seriously, as in, "let's burn down the recruitment
station and vote McGovern because a Beatle's wearing a sheet."
I’ve got no beef
with Lennon, but it’s impossible to take this movie as
seriously as it takes itself. I admire him for trying to use
his fame for good; he was an intelligent, charming and well-spoken rock
star, as the clips in the film show, and I wish there were more like
him. That doesn’t make him a Messiah or even a
hero, so let’s not get hagiographic over it. John Lennon
was far from perfect, something the film never even considers, as a
musician, politician, and human being. The
unwarranted attempts at apotheosis expose the film as a self-righteous
baby-boomer celebration of themselves. Boy, those were the
days, huh? Not like the kids today, I’ll tell you
that. Well, I’d call and say thanks, guys, but
George Bush has my phone tapped.
--
Henry Stewart
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