‘Sir, there’s just a meanness in this world’

Andy Tullis, South West London Socialist Party

Since the disappointment of ‘Great Balls of Fire’, the film biopic of 1950s rock ‘n’ roller Jerry Lee Lewis, arguably one of the worst films ever made, my expectations of films about recording stars and bands aren’t high.

‘Deliver Me from Nowhere’, the recent film biopic of Bruce Springsteen, focuses on a very pivotal point in his career. It is the story of how he made the 1982 album Nebraska, which continued his politically leftward trajectory and reputation as a voice of blue-collar America, while at the same time he was also working on songs for the career and era defining epic, ‘Born in the USA!’

After hit albums like ‘Born to Run’ and ‘The River’, his record company expect him to follow up in the same vein. But Springsteen starts reflecting on memories of his childhood at his parents’ New Jersey home. Fortunately the flashback scenes, shot in obligatory black and white, about his abusive father are restrained and don’t descend into exploitive voyeurism about domestic violence.

A perennial problem with film biopics like this is how exactly to capture the creative process, the interplay and collaborative efforts of artists and musicians and how to convey their genius, and as ever the best bits of the film are where they try to show insight into the musical process itself.  

Influenced by the classic Americana movie ‘Badlands’, from which much of the tone and feel of the film is derived, he sets about recording highly personal songs in his bedroom on a primitive four-track device. But when they try to work up the demos in the big studio, it doesn’t work out. The dark essence of the music is being buried under too many layers. In sets the realisation that they have to somehow translate the songs in their most raw form straight from a single cassette tape directly onto vinyl pressings, and then convince a sceptical record company to release them. 

The record company was worried the fans wouldn’t understand a ‘folk’ album. They needn’t have. It got to number three in the album charts.

The last part of the film deals with Springsteen’s long battle with depression. Finding it hard to reconcile the reality that fame and success mean his old life is gone forever, he says goodbye to his ‘Jersey girl’ Faye, and heads off to California. An analogy of Springsteen’s tendency to run away from emotional conflict, which he more recently opened up about on the excellent documentary film about the making of ‘Western Stars’.

Deliver Me from Nowhere is a well-crafted, superbly cast and acted film all round. Springsteen is sensitively played by Jeremy Allen White and particularly touching right from the start is the portrayal of the relationship with his manager and loyal friend Jon Landau, brilliantly played by Jeremy Strong.

I still don’t recommend people get their musical references from film biopics, far better to just listen to lots of records (especially Nebraska) and go see live bands. But, in my totally unbiased opinion as a Brucie fan, yeah I enjoyed it.

Springsteen: Deliver me from Nowhere is available to watch in cinemas, produced and distributed by 20th Century studios