Lennon doc goes beyond the music

I really wish John was still alive. Not only because he's one of the best songwriters of all time but also for all the love and peace he would be spreading in the world. After acing the Beatles class, watching the seven-disc Beatles anthology and reading a Lennon biography, I thought I knew the full story of John's life, but I learned lots of new information from this well-put together documentary that puts music on the backburner and focuses on his drive for peace in the '70s.\nA quote from Yoko on the back of the DVD reads, "Of all the documentaries that have been made about John, this is the one he would have loved." She's right. The documentary focuses on the part of John's life that he was most proud of: his post-Beatles years, where he spent his time obsessed with Yoko and writing protest songs for peace. While most would find him a humanitarian as he was singing songs like "Give Peace a Chance," the Nixon administration felt Lennon threatened their administration, had him closely monitored and tried to deport him. \nIt's true with most movies, but it's especially true that most documentaries live and die on the editing table. This one flourishes thanks to a delicate mix of archive footage of protests like John and Yoko's bed-in for peace and his anti-war demonstrations coupled with numerous compelling interview subjects. \n We mostly get Yoko's perspective, but there are at least a dozen other, mostly worthwhile interviews from FBI agents to former activists. Strong additions include Bobby Seale, co-founder of the Black Panthers and Walter Cronkite, the legendary news anchor who tells the interesting story of how he was the one who set the Beatles up with Ed Sullivan. \n While the focus of the documentary is the attempted deportation of Lennon, we are treated to a number of his solo work and Beatles songs, though sadly no other Beatles are interviewed. "Give Peace a Chance" and "Imagine" are featured as his big protest songs, but viewers still get his biography section interlaced with personal solo songs like "Mother" and "Oh Yoko." \nThe features include a number of extra interviews that are basically outtakes. "Dissent" is quite interesting and features numerous people drawing parallels between Vietnam and Iraq and illustrates the dangers of the Patriot Act and how against it John would be. \nIn an absolute must-see feature, which is sadly placed last, Yoko Ono fights back tears as she reads a deeply emotional letter she wrote to the parole board to ensure that the man who killed John stays in prison. I was wiping tears from my eyes as she poignantly expressed what John meant to her, their son Sean and the world. For anyone who loves John, Yoko paints a riveting picture of what John would be doing with his life now, how full of life he was at his death and what a truly unique, wonderful man he was, even if he had never written a song.