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I
suppose you're entitled to your opinion. The Beatles changed the face
of music forever, John Lennon was a visionary who changed the world and
the way people saw it, and Jesus was...a labourer that's been
guilt-tripping us for centuries over some bizarre bit of
Tarantino-esque depravery were supposed to concede is our fault.
But
whatever, this isn't a religious debate. My real beef is with Richard
Nixon. The conniving little hate-monger that tried to quash Lennon's
good work in America and stifle his cause. This is the nature of this
DVD...and it's f***ing brilliant.
The doco opens with one of
Lennon's finest feats: the benefit concert that was organized for
jailed acitivist John Sinclair. Such guests included Abbie Hoffman,
Jerry Rubin and Bobby Seale (chairman of The Black Panthers). Lennon
and Yoko appeared and sang their hearts out ("If
he was a soldier man, shooting gooks in Vietnam, if he was the CIA,
selling dope and making hay, he'd be free, they'd let him be, breathing
air like you and me") to beg for freedom for this man- he got
nine years for giving two joints to an undercover policewoman! Come on!
And guess what? They freed him shortly after. Such is the power of John.
The
film skims over John's life and what led him to his true political
calling. His abandonment issues with his parents, a rebellious
adolescence, and eventually becoming the happy-clappy Beatle most of us
first knew him as. Lennon was always the "Bad Beatle": let's not forget
his little quip about Christ that got him into so much damn trouble,
ay? Well the nature of hyperbole came to head in 1966 during the
"Beatles Boycott" where thousands of Beatles records and items of merch
were burned en masse in protest of the group's words. Lennon constantly
corrected himself, apologised, defended that the quote was taken out of
context, but people weren't listening. So John's view was: talk louder.
John
Lennon popped up right where we needed him: during the thick of the
Vietnam War. There was so much bitterness and outcry against the war,
but most felt powerless. Enter, John and Yoko: "The
thing the 60's did was show us the possibility and the responsibility
that we all had. It wasn't the answer. It just gave us a glimpse of the
possibility". From their famous "Bed-In" in 1969 to their "Total
Communication" notion (or, "Bag Theory"), John and Yoko attempted to
educate and provoke an entire generation into peace and
revolution.
Apparently, though, this kind of well-meaning
behaviour makes you a threat to the American Government. I think Nixon
needed a little pop-up book lesson of what was a terrorist and what was
a peace-loving revolutionary. John was convinced his phone was tapped,
and that he was being followed (which was probably true, I myself
consider his murder to have been a political agenda borne of the
Government's inability to deport John and Yoko...I'm not crazy, who
said that?!) but he kept on keeping on.
Making friends in high
places (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Abbie Hoffman, The Black Panthers,
all people Nixon thought would 'use' Lennon for a kind of anarchic
uprising) and using his Beatles notoriety to attract attention to his
cause, John Lennon represented a new era, not just in world politics,
but in spirituality, and the way people lived. His main bullet point
(no pun intended, for once!) was Gandhi's vision of non-violent
protest, that you didn't need to shoot the hell out of someone to make
them see your point. "Happiness is a good vibe for peace" and "Make love, not war, that's all were saying. Remember that" are etched into my mind as staples for how the world should be run and isn't.
Some
choice scenes to watch for: Gloria Emerson, ice maiden and New York
Times journo, chiding Lennon for his dramatic change saying she "used
to respect him". Ironic that her respect would lie with a mop-top
guitar player and not with peacenik visionary attempting to halt all
the murder and violence America was causing. Her condescending tone
will make you bubble with rage (well, I did anyway, I do so love John
Lennon) but John's retorts show he may be a peacenik, but he's more
power than flower any day.
There is also some beautiful footage
of John and Yoko together, from the Bed In to random dancing in
airports, the two were truly in love. And no matter how you feel about
Yoko, you can't deny the positive effect she had on John, and all their
commanding work together.
Some famous faces come along to say a
few words about our hero, including Gore Vidal, Walter Cronkite, Bobby
Seale and radical acitivist/ journalist Tariq Ali who surmises the
entire issue perfectly: "The notion
that the world's largest, most powerful imperial nation- The United
States- could be seriously threatened by a writer, an intellectual, a
singer, a painter, is laughable! It's just a a joke".
My thoughts exactly.
I
was glad The Beatles split when they did. No, hear me out. Would John
Lennon have made the impact he did if he'd been a Beatle? Being paraded
through airports like a show pony and playing for adoring, fawning
teenage girls? Nope. And Yoko puts it best, whether you dig her or not:
"They tried to kill John, but they couldn't, because his message is still alive".
Damn straight!
Peace.
EXTRAS
Sadly,
no extras on offer - surely theres some extra uncut footage lying
around somewhere. But, alas, nothing! It must have all been used up in
that damn 'Beatles Anthology' biz! Conclusion:
Movie 80% Extras: 60%
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