The U.S. vs. John Lennon
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Movie Reviews of The U.S. vs. John Lennon
Movie Review: Give Peace a Chance
Summary: 5 Stars
The U.S. vs. John Lennon chronicles the peace activist period of the pop star's life, and a fine chronicle it is. The Nixon administration, once they decided Lennon was a threat, decided to boot him out of the country, and this documentary examines the legal struggle as well as trying to answer the question of why Lennon was an "enemy of the state." Using footage from interviews, press conferences, concerts, home movies, and news reports combined with interviews with key figures like Noam Chomsky, Angela Davis, G Gordon Liddy, Geraldo Rivera, and Gore Vidal, they put together a well-reasoned assessment of Lennon's activities and the mood of the nation, administration and the world at the time.
Lennon traded in his mop-top pop image for a more gritty and important role as a songwriter with a message, and that message was Peace. As he so simply put it, "Peace has never been given a chance." And the message "Give Peace a Chance" resonates so loudly that its simplicity is its power. He believed in it and he lived it. With so many people looking up to him, he used his celebrity to speak to this crucial message.
The film shows footage from the famous Bed-Ins, where Lennon and Ono stayed in bed in protest. The biggest criticism anyone can raise to those week-long events is that they are Utopian and what's wrong with that? What did it hurt to have photos in every major newspaper and on the nightly news showing Lennon and Ono in bed, capturing in every shot a homemade sign with the word Peace prominent.
The message of the movie wasn't that Lennon had a squabble with the U.S. Government. The true message was that the most powerful nation on earth, with the most powerful military in history, is afraid of a simple word. The message is that Peace can't be given a chance - it must be stopped, it must be crushed, it must be scorned and derided, it must be disempowered, disemboweled, and dismembered. Peace doesn't have a friendly relationship with profit, so peace must lose. John Lennon spoke out and used his celebrity to challenge Nixon and for it he was harassed, his privacy was invaded, and his right to live in the U.S. nearly revoked.
Sure the movie glossed over his funding of the Black Panthers and didn't spend a lot of time exploring his friendships with other activists, but this was a chronicle, not an expose.
It brought forward Lennon's message of peace and made me consider it again. And it told the story of Lennon's final decade from a new perspective. It was well-made, and worked on all levels.
- CV Rick
Movie Review: Where are the voices today?
Summary: 5 Stars
I was three and a half when John Lennon was assasinated so I wasn't old enough to understand the scope of this loss. This documentary brings it into clear focus. I didn't know a lot of the things that he did: the protests, the bed-ins, the concerts, etc. He was an inspiration to all those who fought along with him for peace. I didn't know that he was the one who wrote the immortal song Give Peace a Chance.
The problem I have know with celebrities getting involved with charities is something that C.S. Lewis said in The Screwtape letters. Bascially Screwtape said that when the person gets involved in charity he/she should be at the center of the charity, it's his involvement with the charity should be the important thing. The celebrity that goes into the war torn areas in a jeep then goes back to the five-star hotel at night, that kind of thing. I never got that opinion of John Lennon, either from this doc or anything else I've read or seen on him. He was genuinely concerned for the people and the cause he championed. Hell, he risked deportation and arrest for this. He was considered an enemy of the state for these ideas.
The documentary is well put together featuring interviews from people who knew and loved John as well as some people who had problems with him including G. Gordon Liddy. But through all of it, John still shines through. He cuts through whatever commentary there is with his own intelligence, extremely quick wit, and absolute sincerity on whatever he's talking about.
Oh, and a note about Yoko Ono. My opinion before this doc was simple. I didn't care about her. I didn't believe that she broke up The Beatles, bands break up for more complex reasons than a woman. After seeing this doc I have a more positive feeling about her. She presents an unusual image, but so does Bjork? What's wrong with that? If she was John's muse, his companion, and was the mother of his children, more power to her and God bless her.
Where are the voices like this now? Why isn't there a voice like his, or multiple voices for that matter? Why, with better access to information at this time than any other time, is there still a larger sense of apathy in this society. Lennon, I honestly believe, would be shaking his head in shame if he were alive today.
"War is over, if you want it to." - John Lennon
"Peace is not only better than war, but infinitely more arduous." - George Bernard Shaw
Movie Review: Lennon's Message Lives On
Summary: 5 Stars
Preaching to the choir is going to be the common cliche heard about this excellently done documentary, but that won't take away from how well its message comes across and how well the film is put together.
THE U.S. VS. JOHN LENNON covers the tumultuous life of Beatle's legend John Lennon within the political arena of the 60s and 70s. Don't expect to see a historical recounting of the Beatles' break-up or their fabulous rise in the music industry; these things are only touched on and are not what the film should be about with a title such as this one anyway.
Focusing precisely on Lennon's involvement in the "flower power" movement during the Vietnam War, the film's nexus is about the perceived threat that John Lennon wielded toward the Nixon Administration and their attempts to remove him from U.S. soil by any means possible.
Great additions were made to the documentary with interviews by Walter Cronkite, Gore Vidal, and G. Gordon Liddy (as well as many others) who gave insights into these times-gone-by. Gore Vidal makes a bold statement about how "Nixon represented death and Lennon represented life" and so the clash was set from the get-go. Vidal also notes that "Mr. Bush's administration represents similar notes to Nixon's." This will most certainly turn-off the conservative right but, again, this film preaches more to the choir than trying to change anyone's mind.
Most enjoyable are all of the many archival film pieces that litter the documentary and give the viewer that "Wow, where did that come from" feeling. They include private home movie footage of John and Yoko with their child, as well as never before seen shots of the "peace bed" they shared immediately after their wedding.
Any negatives have to be aimed at the limited information on John's battle with heroin and other drugs during this time. But, again, that's not what this film is about. It's about how the government of the time viewed Lennon as a threat toward its goal of achieving some sort of victory in Vietnam. It's about how the Nixon Administration tried to use its muscle to evict Lennon and Yoko from the U.S. via the Immigration and Naturalization process; an attempt that ultimately failed. These aspects are studied in minute detail and are rightfully given the most film time.
Movie Review: Mean Political machine VS. John Lennon
Summary: 5 Stars
Lennon takes on two major establishments in this documrntary: The Nixon Machine (Many components & players of which are in a deja vu Bush Administration) & the Mainstream Press. Both establishments were aghast that an individual would stand up against them for what he felt was right: Peace & Freedom of Speech.
He first expressed his political muscle by freeing a prisner from a 20+ yr sentence because he was caught with 2 maijauna cigarretes!
The he targeted War and started pressing for peace on earth. This put him in the crosshairs of the elite congressional-military-industrial-complex.
Today the Justice Departmrnt routinely catches then releases illegal aliens with LESS than 500 POUNDS OF MARIJUANA! Arrests individuals smoking marijuana on doctors orders.
This is a great DVD that goes into a time past that is as present as today (Bush's Team was in great part an early Nixon team).
John's spirit lives on in more ways than one.
It is worth to note that the great fighter Muhammad Ali also fought for peace against the establishment. Both are exemplary examples for people in today's same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel: Congressional-military-industrial complex.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!!
Movie Review: Lennon's Last Stand
Summary: 5 Stars
Finally watched this. Great documentary which nails a story that had become a footnote over time, but absolutely comes to life through the voices of those who were there. The excellent stock footage is well crafted together with an ensemble of activists, politicians, journalists and graced with Lennon's presence itself - making him both a strong subject and participant in this documentary.
We enter the world of Lennon's hopes and ideals, while experiencing the realities that he encountered and had to live in. The Vietnam War, the Civil Rights movement - so much of it parallels what is going on today. These were dangerous times not for Lennon per se, but for regular people.
Most importantly, The US vs. John Lennon as a document, sheds clarity on Lennon's music and imbues the man with more substance than many would give him credit for. Give Peace a Chance, Revolution, and Imagine weren't just wanna-be peace anthems - they reflected the times and the honesty of Lennon. Sadly, he would die a meaningless death in the country he adopted.
The world could do with another John Lennon right now.