by Geoffrey Churchman

Bruce Springsteen has been such a big name in the pop-rock world for 50 years that a biopic is going to interest a lot of fans, including myself. Many of his songs are influenced by films, particularly 1940s and 1950s film noir while other songs have been about his youth in New Jersey and ordinary people in the everyday struggle.

This movie covers two specific periods in his life — his family life in small town New Jersey with a difficult father in the 1950s — who wasn’t bad, but not good either — the segments of which are in b/w, and the period leading up to the release of the album ‘Nebraska’ in 1982.

The ‘deliver me’ is a direct reference to mental health demons that he suffered from and probably still does, which he eventually sought professional help for. Unlike the usual situation where rockstars indulge in mansions, drugs, drink and wall to wall women (groupies), he remained true to his working class roots and eschewed to some degree at least that lifestyle although the movie suggests he liked fast Pontiacs. In between arenas he also played at a small rock venue named The Stone Pony.

The coming into being of the album ‘Nebraska’ involved unorthodox recording, most if not all the songs done with a home 4-track tape recorder, the results from he much prefered to what the band and the professional recording studio provided. The songs being basically singing, accoutic guitar and harmonica were much too folk-like to excite the record company (CBS) which wanted hit parade material. Springsteen also insited that he not be on the cover, there be no press coverage, no singles and no accompanying tour. Understandably, the record company reaction was ‘what the Stuff is wrong with this guy?’ Eventually though, it relented and did that. According to notes at the end ‘Nebraska’ reached #3 in the album chart, and a new box set has just been released to accompany the movie.

It’s obvious from recent interviews that Bruce Springsteen actively supervised the movie and was often on set, thus it’s also an autobiopic. He also chose Jeremy Allen White to play him.

Does it work? Fairly well — excessive introspection and self indulgence has a big risk of turning people off, but the film manages to avoid overdoing it and gives fans the interesting aspects of the writing and musical arrangement of the songs they like to hear. As well as obsure tracks it includes the renditions of ‘Born to Run’ and ‘Born in the USA’ that are probably his biggest numbers (the latter is about veterans and is not a jingoist anthem — ‘Born down in a dead man’s town/The first kick I took was when I hit the ground/End up like a dog that’s been beat too much/’Til you spend half your life just coverin’ up, now.’)

Many of the songs on the smash hit album of this name from 1984 were recorded at the same time as ‘Nebraska’ but shelved for two years. (My favourite, “Dancing in the dark’ doesn’t feature in the film.)

It provides insight into what motivated the songs that people most like, and is a good fan trip from that aspect. 7/10

Springsteen — deliver me from nowhere (119 minutes) is screening at The Shoreline.