The U.S. vs. John Lennon

There’s nothing we haven’t heard before in this documentary, but it is cool to see a lot of well-worn Lennon clips edited together for this film. The title suggests that the movie has much to do with the United States effort to deport Lennon in the ’70s, but that actually doesn’t come up until late in the movie. Instead, it explores the peace movement Lennon started with the Beatles and carried on with Yoko Ono. The man was quite simply one of the most brilliant people to ever walk the planet, so any chance to hear him speak is a good thing. The documentary around the clips is a bit dull and not as profound as it aims to be. (It seems to suggest that Lennon had a lot to do with the resignation of Richard Nixon—probably not true.) It’s definitely worthwhile if you are a new Lennon fan. For longtime fans, it’s pretty much a visit to familiar territory, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.