Imagine a peaceful nation

THE U.S. VS. JOHN LENNON (2006)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

(Originally reviewed in 2007)

When I think of the late John Lennon, I think of one word: Peace. That is what encapsulated the meaning of his famous song, "Imagine," and more obviously, "Give Peace a Chance." But peace can be seen as a threat to the national order, specifically our government, and especially during a time of war. The latest documentary about Lennon, "The U.S. vs. John Lennon," focuses on the goverment's attempt to shut him up and bring him down.

John Lennon has always been the abrasive, outspoken Beatle, despite his pacifist, ideological views. In a sense, he was the most confrontational and the one people really listened to. No other celebrity has ever managed to have a bedroom protest for days with the media present, sing "Give Peace a Chance" repeatedly and have others sing along, give numerous interviews on the "Mike Douglas Show" and the "Dick Cavett Show" and, in short, make our goverment and our own President of the U.S. nervous. The real question is: why did Lennon make them nervous? Perhaps, Lennon's savvy skills as a PR person, as well as maintaining press conferences, giving interviews, spreading his message of peace and trying vainly to end the Vietnam War were all too prevalent - clearly, the message was working. Yoko Ono was his partner, but radical activists who decried the war are also mentioned, including the late Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. Lennon took it a step further - he became a latter-day Gandhi and used rock n' roll as his tool, and bed-ins for instrumenting change.

The film's time period runs roughly from 1966 until Lennon's unfortunate murder in December of 1980. We see the mop-topped Beatle was no ordinary Beatle at all - he infamously claimed that his band, the Beatles, was more popular than Jesus. Though later Lennon clarified his error, he did say that they were in fact more popular after all. As everyone knows, the Beatles didn't remain a group forever, thus enabling John Lennon to carve his own personal niche with his own songs, recorded his way (we hear over 40 of them from "Well, Well, Well" to the tear-inducing, powerful peace anthem "Give Peace a Chance" to "Beautiful Boy"). Interestingly, as high profile as Lennon got (and he certainly eclipsed Hoffman and Rubin), the more trouble he was for the Nixon administration. Nixon, the late Strom Thurmond and the other powers-that-be bugged Lennon's phones, followed him everywhere (and not always incognito) and even tried to get him deported due to a marijuana charge back in England! As clearly stated by John Dean, former White House Counsel for Nixon, the peace demonstrations were a definite concern. Let's not forget the "War is Over - If You Want It" signs/billboards that were plastered all over the world.

The problem is that some of this focus is lost when we hear only incidental interviews from certain parties. Jerry Rubin, Angela Davis, Black Panther co-founder Bobby Seale, liberal author Gore Vidal, and Yoko Ono contribute some positive insights about Lennon and the paranoia of the times. As for the negative insights of this Beatle, we hear strong words from G. Gordon Liddy who feels that if Lennon hated America and its war, he should've left (Mighty strong words coming from someone who contributed to the Nixon resignation in such ugly times). Incredibly, Liddy feels even less apologetic about the Kent State massacre. But we hear precious little about Lennon's thoughts on the unpopular war, or even from those close to him. We do know that after Nixon got re-elected, Lennon stayed out of the limelight - perhaps he knew that peace was not an option anymore. But why did he give up? What happened in those years after Nixon got re-elected and Vietnam ended? And is there an implication from Yoko that Lennon was killed by the government, hence Mark David Chapman, Lennon's assassin, and that he was a trained CIA operative? Did the government still feel Lennon was some sort of threat to the upcoming Reagan era?

As a film, "The U.S. vs. John Lennon" definitely recaptures those trying times and the hope that things could change. In many ways, it is still relevant in the Bush era, considering we have an unpopular war that hardly anybody wants. But nobody is expressing peace or hope the way John Lennon did during Vietnam - we have no one to motivate us and spring for a change and counter the way our goverment behaves. All we have, for better or worse, is Rosie O'Donnell, Bill Maher, John Stewart and a host of comedians doubling as political experts who bash Bush and the war any chance they get. But nobody is truly saying, "Give peace a chance." Maybe it is too scary a thought in this day and age, even for our Democratic presidential candidates, to utter such a word. Lennon did use it, and meant it. He saw beyond politics, as even the late John F. Kennedy did.

I certainly admire "The U.S. vs. John Lennon" but I think it shortchanges John Lennon, presenting him more as the myth than the man. We know he had his foibles and flaws, and I only wish the filmmakers showed more of that. Or maybe they just want to continue to provide Lennon as the synonym for peace. Maybe that is not such a bad idea after all.