The US Versus John Lennon
Yesterday I went to Milwaukee and saw the new film The US Versus John
Lennon. I had a read a couple of negative reviews, so I was skeptical going in.
I
found that some of the criticisms were valid, while others were not.
First of all, one critic said there isn't actually much about the US
attempt to oust Lennon from the country. He has a point. The film took SO LONG
in
building up the background of Lennon's involvement in political issues, that
most of the film was over by the time they got to the issue at hand. And there
were literally years of time that weren't accounted for at all. On the subject
of early 1973 until the case was decided in July 1976, the film is silent.
Are we to assume that nothing legal was happening at this time?
Another thing that is problematic is the apparent ass-kissing of Yoko
that the filmmakers are engaged in. John and Yoko's relationship is presented
as
a storybook romance, without a word mentioned about Lennon's first marriage to
Cynthia Lennon, nor his 18 month relationship with May Pang during his Walls
and Bridges period which is during the immigration battle no less. No, we
gracefully bounce over that whole affair to the birth of John and Yoko's son,
Sean, whose birth provides a Hollywood ending because it coincided with
Lennon's
victory in the case. However, if you know anything about the real history of
John and Yoko, this attempt to Paul-and-Linda their relationship seems
contrived. For that, the filmmakers should be ashamed.
On the other hand, I found the criticism that the film devolves into a
music video to be unwarranted. First of all, who wouldn't want John's music
peppered throughout the film? This is a film about a songwriter that was
consistently political, and he expressed it in many of his songs. But songs are
only
excerpted in the film, not played in their entirety. Surprisingly, I don't
think the film touched on the song "Woman is the Nigger of the World," one of
John's boldest political statements.
As for the content of the film, here is where it shines. If you didn't
already hate the Republican Party after seeing their shenanigans in the new
documentary Who Killed the Electric Car (which shows them colluding with oil
companies to destroy an already-on-the-road reliable car that doesn't use oil),
wait until you see this film. If you think that Republicans suppressing voters
in Florida (2000) and Ohio (2004) is a new thing, again, wait until you see
this film! Republican Senator Strom Thurmond (South Carolina)-- a notorious
racist/homophobe who actually gave birth to an out-of-wedlock child with his
black
housekeeper-- leads the effort to oust Lennon from the US based on a trivial
pot bust in England (which Lennon said was planted evidence in any case) in
order to squelch a planned tour featuring Lennon and progressive political
leaders. Lennon says, point blank, that he's being harassed not cuz they care
about
the pot bust (which had happened to many musicians who had been allowed to
come and go from America) but because he was a peacenik. Nixon had recently
signed a bill that changed the legal voting age to 18, and he was scared that
Lennon would rally the youth to vote against him. Indeed, Lennon had been
instrumental in getting activist John Sinclair, in jail for a 10 year sentence
for
giving two joints to an undercover agent, released merely by his participation
in
a rally. Enthused by this success, Lennon and fellow progressives were
planning a tour to increase awareness of progressive political issues while
dogging
Nixon on the campaign trail. President Nixon was a notoriously corrupt
politician who had little or no conscience to speak of-- he was bombing
innocent
civilians by the hundreds of thousands in Viet Nam and Cambodia while
simultaneously using every branch of the government to frighten a pop star into
leaving
the country. Lennon, admirably, did not leave, but not as admirably, didn't go
through with his tour. He even resisted going to a protest at the Republican
Party convention in Miami, Yoko claims, because they were afraid of being shot
by the Nixon administration. This seems like a silly accusation. Not that he
wouldn't have thought of it, but even a psycho like Nixon-- or at least one of
his advisors-- would have thought about the possible backlash affect of such an
action. Nevertheless, Nixon carries out the Watergate break-in in yet
another attempt to subvert democracy and gets himself almost impeached in the
process (he resigned because he knew that both the House and Senate were going
to
impeach him). This is basically the gist of the film's thesis.
There are, of course, many other issues touched on in the film. The whole
buildup to the US attempt to oust Lennon deals with everything from Lennon's
"the Beatles are more popular than Jesus" controversy to the song "Revolution"
to Kent State and just about everything but the kitchen sink. Quite honestly,
you can see entire documentaries about many of the issues in the film, be it
the riots at the Democratic Convention in 1968 or the Kent State massacre of
protesters and innocent bystanders.
Needless to say, this is a must-see film for anyone who loves progressive
politics or political music. You won't be disappointed whatever the
deficiencies of the film. On the contrary, I'm sure multiple viewings will be
warranted, but coming from an obsessive documentary watcher that is not a
surprising
statement. Just go and celebrate everything the 1960s and 70s stood for, and
never ever forget the message of that era-- fight conservatives until your last
dying breath. ===--=== om===-= Nick
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