The U.S. vs John Lennon (2006) PG-13 96min
November 12th, 2007 by Maxim · No Comments · 1,350 Views
Documentary written and directed by David Leaf and John Scheinfeld about the part of life of John Lennon when he was more and more separating himself from Beatles and becoming a political peace activist. Yoko Ono also is interviewed in this movie. Lots of archive footage from the Vietnam War era, including footage and photographs from personal archives of Yoko. Documentary provides background of the peace movement in the 60s as well as what John Lennon and Yoko were going through at the time, all leading to confrontation between him and the Nixon administration. The government was threatened by the peace activists and mobilized FBI, CIA and secret service to deal with the threat with methods that included assassinations. Lennon is openly followed by the Secret Service agents. Government tries to deport him under any pretence. They found out that he had a previous marijuana possession charge that Lennon plead guilty to – back in England, and they decided to use it as a pretence to deport him. Eventually, Lennon’s lawyer counter-sued and proved that the Nixon administration has conspired against him, with people from the very top of the government involved and including illegal wiretapping. Lennon won and was granted Green Card to allow him to stay in New York, the city he loved. Unfortunately, in 1980, John Lennon was gunned down outside of his New York apartment by a deluded fan.
Emotional and very engaging documentary. Most of the background music are Lennon’s songs of the period. John Lennon appears to be naive as a child, but it was the kind of naiveté and charisma shine through like Gandhi’s. He’s so active, really taking our country’s policies to heart. Yoko was always supporting him. Also interesting to see events leading to the Watergate scandal. It was a rouge, a criminal presidency – and that was the context of John Lennon’s and Yoko Ono’s story in the film.
So where are our contemporary John Lennons? The movie doesn’t make a direct link between events in the movie and the war in Iraq, but the directors have said that they were trying to get this project implemented since 90s, and weren’t able to until after 9/11.
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conspirace | John Lennon | movie review | peace movement | Vietnam war
Tags: Biographical · Black and White · Documentary
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