By Anne Brodie Aug 27, 2006, 14:22 GMT
John Lennon courted trouble all his life. He said and sang whatever was on his mind and lived by renegade rules he set out for himself.
As an adult and Beatles graduate, he found a new mission - spreading the peace message around the world, and calling for an end to war. He was uncompromising, set against the backdrop of the Vietnam war and a right wing US Administration and that put him in jeopardy.
When he and Yoko moved to New York, they allied themselves with other artists and underground left wing radicals, including Black Panther leader Bobby Seale.
Lennon went on the talk show circuit detailing the failures of the government, especially in waging the war in Vietnam, challenging people to feel something and do something.
His songs at that time were all about war and peace and the kids were eating it up. It wasn’t long before he caught the attention of officials right up to and including President Richard Nixon, who promptly put the outspoken couple under surveillance.
Today, Ono says they knew they were being watched, that they openly expressed their concerns to the media and even canceled a concert appearance for fear of being killed.
Leaf and Sheinfeld’s well-researched documentary reveals that Lennon was considered an ‘enemy of the state’. The FBI had a Lennon file “that thick.” Clearly the government feared Lennon’s leftist views and influence.
Present day interviews with Seale, Gay Talese, Geraldo Rivera and others who witnessed Lennon’s predicament are eye opening. An impressive doco brings the US 70’s vividly back to life, a time when everything changed. And Lennon’s plaintive songs of peace provide a moving and bittersweet emotional flow.
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