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review: the u.s. vs. john lennon (2006)
By vrtualme | September 14, 2007
“the war is over. If you want it.” My mom’s favorite Beatle was John Lennon so he’s always held a certain fascination for me. This being so there was no way I was going to skip watching The U.S. vs. John Lennon (2006). Unlike previous documentaries of the man, this one focused more on his political views than his music. Well, you can still hear plenty of his music here, but only in how it was influenced by those political views. The writing/directing team of David Leaf & John Scheinfeld are no strangers to musical documentaries; they’ve also covered Ricky Nelson, Rosemary Clooney, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and the Bee Gees among others. And they’ve done another fine job here. The archival footage is amazing; along with the interviews given. Some of those shedding light on this period in Lennon’s life were legends Stew Albert, Carl Bernstein (of Woodward & Bernstein), Walter Cronkite, Mario Cuomo, Angela Davis, Ron Kovic (author of Born on the Fourth of July), G. Gordon Liddy, George McGovern, Bobby Seale (co-founder of the Black Panther Party), John Sinclair (who was sentenced in 1969 to 10 years in prison for possession of two joints), Tom Smothers and Gore Vidal. If you’re a Beatle fan, or a hippie at heart, you should see this film. The official website doesn’t offer much, but there is a link to join Nutopia. A place that “has no land, no boundaries, no passports, only people. Nutopia has no laws other than cosmic. All people of Nutopia are ambassadors of the country. Citizenship of the country can be obtained by declaration of your awareness of Nutopia.”