The U.S. vs. John Lennon (2006)

Reviewed: 2/2007

As John Lennon was evolving from Beatle to peace activist, the Nixon Administration was becoming more fearful of the musician turned firebrand. When Lennon moved to New York City back in 1970, the administration was terrified that he and Yoko One had to power to organize protesters, affect the outcome of presidential elections and shape the nation in years to come.

The U.S. vs. John Lennon focuses on Lennon the activist and his five-year fight against the Immigration and Naturalization Service's quest to deport him (at the request of J. Edger Hoover and Nixon's hatchet man, John Ehrlichman, no less). The focus of wiretapping, surveillance, and God-know-what-else, Lennon's childlike sincerity, his stand for justice and truth amid it all, is awe-inspiring even today. If only there could be more like him.

Using archived footage of protests, interviews, news reports, senate hearings, etc. and the newly release FBI files on Lennon, writer/directors David Leaf and John Scheinfeld created a tight, to-the-point story of David vs. Goliath. The interviews (Mario Cuomo, G. Gordon Liddy, George McGovern, Dr. Angela Davis, Gore Vidal, Ron Kovic {the paraplegic Vietnam Vet who wrote Born on the Fourth of July}) they score are particularly interesting with a wide swath of historic figures, peace-nicks and activists. Each interview from famed newsman Walter Cronkite to Black Panther founder Bobby Seals is insightful but really provide more information on the tumultuous time period than on Lennon. It's his songs and own words that really emphasize Lennon's innocent and unblinking quest for peace and truth.

The film, as a documentary, is very narrow. Considering it's short running time just over 90 minutes, the opinions become redundant. But it's really when the footage loops for the third time, that you become bored. It's a shame that so much of this aspect of Lennon's life must come from outside sources. One of the greatest surprises here is Yoko Ono Lennon. The viewer is getting something special; it's like you're getting taken behind the veil. You've never seen her so real and so unlike her public persona.

It's rather mind-boggling that the federal government could be so scared of one man. Ridiculous when you consider this is the GOVERNMENT we're talking about. What is sad, however, is the extremes to which this administration went to stifle the freedoms on which this country was founded.

The viewer will have to determine what agenda the directors had here, but for me, it was rather obvious. The interviewees didn't help. As Lennon's battles end, the film turns into a medium to bash the present administration. Despite all this, truthfully, I couldn't shake the parallels to today's administration. The paranoia, the fear, the extremes. It is frightening to think. Too bad, there is no Lennon to incite us now.

If you do want to know how it ends, Lennon lawyered up and won his fight in 1976. On his birthday, on his son Sean's birthday, John Lennon found out that he had won their case, mainly because the INS decided not to pursue him any longer.

The U.S. vs. John Lennon is an interesting, albeit brief look into a volatile part of America's history. Fans of John Lennon will be delighted, historians will be bored, and casual movie-goers will be disappointed. Regardless, the film is a testament to brilliant free-thinker whose life was snuffed out much too soon.