Posted: 10/03/2006

The U.S. vs. John Lennon

(2006)

by Hank Yuloff

Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today…

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too

Imagine all the people
Living life in peace…

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world…

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one”

If you think the above lyrics to John Lennon’s “Imagine” are among the best songs ever written, you will see The U.S. vs. John Lennon as a magical mystery tour around the last time the U.S. government ran amok, during the Nixon administration. Like now, the United States Constitution was subverted by a Republican President to strengthen his hold on absolute power.

And John Lennon, who made friends with many of the Vietnam antiwar activists of the day was seen as a partisan subversive who would hurt the Republican’s ability to send our young people to die in an unjust, unneeded, misrun, misguided, and costly (in both treasure and lives) war.

This documentary by the veteran writer/director team of David Leaf and John Scheinfeld takes us through the height of Beatlemania and into the post-Beatles era for Lennon and Yoko Ono where he was fighting deportation as a way of silencing him before the re-election of Richard Nixon.

True believers in George W. Bush will not find this movie the least bit enjoyable. They will say that the more things change, the more they stay the same. And they would be right. But it should be pointed out that even the comments of G. Gordon Liddy foreshadow the current administration while only mentioning the current subversive sitting in the White House once when Gore Vidal says, “John Lennon was a born enemy of those who control the United States, which I always say was admirable. Lennon came to represent life, while Mr. Nixon… and Mr. Bush… represent death.”

After watching this film, I had the feeling, as I left the theater, that there were FBI and NSA operatives copying down the license plates of everyone who had gone to this film. But remember: All we are saying is give peace a chance. Viva la peaceful revolution.

WAR IS OVER.

If you want it.

Hank Yuloff is a co-founder of Film Monthly, a film critic and media mogul in Los Angeles.

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