REVIEW: John Lennon - A Life In Ten Pictures

 REVIEW: John Lennon - A Life In Ten Pictures 

It may seem an obvious thing to say, but the Beatles were a major cultural phenomenon. My Dad, who was alive in the 60s and is a massive fan of their music, has told me often about just how major a movement Beatlemania was, and it was something that made researching them for university when I was in my third year quite fascinating. I'd tasked myself with writing a fantasy musical film screenplay based on their work, and to accomplish this task I bought a biography by Philip Norman called 'Shout'. One thing that became very clear during this research was that John Lennon had lived a very interesting life indeed.

And this documentary is testament to that. Even his life before The Beatles makes for a great story. He was sent to live with his aunt Mimi away from his parents as a child, leading to a great deal of confusion from his end as to why he couldn't be with his parents. It's quite heartbreaking to think about this child that was lost, and it's painfully clear just how much of a poor upbringing John Lennon had. He never had an easy life in the slightest.

Testament to that is how his bedroom window was opposite to the road where his mother later died. His late Mum was run over by an oncoming vehicle, bringing early tragedy into his life. This poor kid not only had to deal with a Dad that didn't want him but also a deceased mother. It's no wonder that later in his life he turned to cannabis.

It seems worlds away from his later music days where he had to deal with thousands of screaming young girls. My Dad has told me many times how the sounds of these female fans was deafening. In fact, he saw the Beatles in concert at the since-demolished Futurist Theatre, and said that it was so bad you couldn't even hear them sing. Judging by the archive footage of these types of fans in this documentary, he really wasn't kidding. It seems absolutely crazy that anybody could go this stupid over what amounts to four human beings built the same way as the rest of us, and it makes you wonder what was even the point in going to a concert. You may as well have just made do with the vinyl!

What's interesting is that there's an early example of cancel culture in John Lennon's story, before the days of social media. You see, John Lennon made a comment about christianity dying and the Beatles being 'bigger than Jesus', which later got picked up five months' later by a teen pop music magazine called 'Datebook'. This feels absolutely insane to learn about, as the U.S. religious community decide to hold a bonfire where they burn their Beatles vinyls. It's a daft reaction for what was essentially just a flippant comment made by John Lennon, and it really does seem mad that they had to put together a whole press conference where he was made to apologise for comments which were clearly meant as a joke.

But then I guess John Lennon was a crazy man. This is most obvious in the picture we are shown of himself and his life partner Yoko Ono posing in front of their smashed car. The pair had crashed the vehicle and sustained injuries which had required them to be rushed to hospital, but here they are smiling and giving peace symbols like nothing had even happened. I doubt you'd find many who would be able to smile and pose for a photograph after such a horrific event. I myself was once a passenger in a car crash, for instance, and whilst mine was a relatively minor affair (thankfully) with no injuries at all, the sheer event of being inside of one does shake you up. For that reason this is probably the last photo I expected to see in this factual piece of television.

Another photo in this documentary is really quite haunting. This is of John Lennon, signing an autograph for his eventual killer. Now of course, everyone knows John Lennon was tragically shot down by a madman in New York, but I didn't realise it was somebody who had actually posed as a Beatles fan and got him to sign his autograph. Something about that makes it seem all the more disturbing. It suggests a determination and cunningness, as if it was planned exactly how it would go ahead right to the last detail, and I guess it shows just how crazed the man behind the gun truly was. It's the most important picture in the show, but for reasons that are ultimately very, very sad to behold.

My only gripe with this documentary is that like with the Freddie Mercury factual programme that kicked off this series, none of the band mates are present here to talk about their friend. In this case there are only two band mates left - Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr - and there's a certain distance and coldness from neither of this pair being present to talk about John Lennon. They should have been the first people signed for a vox pop in this documentary, and yet they are totally absent (bar from the archive footage).

Overall, this episode of A Life In Ten Pictures brings a brilliantly in-depth look into one of the most influential musicians of all time. John Lennon's tale is one that both begins and ends in tragedy, and the photographs that are shown help to paint the picture of a very troubled human being. It's just a shame that the production team couldn't secure a few quick vox pops with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, as their absence is really quite noticeable.