THE US vs JOHN LENNON, documentary. Written and directed by David Leaf and John Scheinfeld. (Main, film, Olive Schreiner Hall June 28 at 10am; July 3 at 12.30pm)
Reviewed by Leon Muston
EVERY music fan is familiar with John Lennon’s anti-war anthems: Give Peace a Chance, Imagine, Merry Xmas (War is Over), Power to the People and Working Class Hero to name just five.
Heard individually they are enjoyable pieces of music. Evaluated together, they form evidence of Lennon as a threat to US national security during the Nixon administration.
This may sound a bit far- fetched, but the makers of the documentary The US vs John Lennon, which is already out on DVD and will also form part of the film programme at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, have gathered a lot of evidence to prove their point.
FBI documents prove that Lennon’s phone conversations were tapped and attempts in 1972 to get him deported could be traced right to the office of Richard Nixon.
The film uses archive footage from concerts, interviews and political gatherings, as well as showing the documents which contain the proof.
The use of these documents is one of the few negatives of the production as a whole.
The camera zooms in on certain sentences or paragraphs, but flashes on to the next document or scene before the viewer has had chance to read them. Of course, you can keep hitting rewind and pause on your remote control, but you soon lose patience with this and just let the film play.
There are also interviews with those directly involved including Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono, his lawyer Leon Wildes, journalist Walter Cronkite, former Black Panthers leader Bobby Seale, other activists and interestingly former FBI and government officials who confirm that Lennon was under surveillance.
In fact so much information was gathered that vast portions of the interviews and evidence have had to be put into the extras rather than included in the main documentary.
The film is of interest to Lennon’s fans and people who enjoy conspiracy theories, but it’s not the most brilliant piece of filmmaking you’ll come across this year. But whatever you think about the film, there’s a good chance you’ll find yourself humming the songs for a long time after the final credits have rolled.
Tags: Documentary, fbi, Film review, grahamstown, john lennon, national arts festival, richard nixon, the beatles, walter cronkite, yoko ono
