Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere opens in theatres October 24
In 1975, Bruce Springsteen was sitting on top of the rock music world.
His third studio album Born to Run became a critical and commercial success, and dominated the album charts everywhere. As well, he accomplished the very rare accomplishment of appearing on the cover of Time and Newsweek magazines simultaneously on the same week. The New Jersey native was becoming a rock music superstar.
And to prove that his success wasn’t a fluke, his next two albums, Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) and The River (1980), were just as successful. The latter album also garnered his first Top 10 hit single Hungry Heart.
In the fall of 1981, after he completed his The River tour, Springsteen was about to enter a transitional point in his life and career. Influenced by watching the classic 1973 crime movie Badlands, based on the Charles Starkweather state-wide murder spree throughout Nebraska in 1958, Springsteen decided to write and record an album of thought-provoking folk music, which he did most of the creative and technical work on his own (similar to Paul McCartney’s method when he worked on his first solo album in 1970). The end result was Nebraska, a two-record set that was released in 1982 to critical acclaim and commercial success.
The story of this crucial period in the life of Bruce Springsteen is portrayed in the deep, yet captivating, biopic Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere.
Jeremy Allen White (of The Bear fame) had the monumental task of portraying the Boss, and he has accomplished it quite admirably. He has captured the essence of Springsteen’s onstage and offstage personas, whether it be his raw, energetic concert performances, or the quiet, introspective and isolated side when he is in the middle of the creative process when he was putting together the songs that would end up in Nebraska, and later his mega successful Born in the USA. And that was no mean feat, especially when Springsteen himself was a regular presence on the set.
The film also shows a side of Springsteen that many are not aware of. During this period, he was going through a bout of depression that haunted him when he returned to New Jersey, which was brought about by the toxic relationship of his alcoholic father (Stephen Graham) and long suffering mother (Gabby Hoffman) that he silently witnessed and endured as a child. However, throughout the film, he finds solace through his relationships with local waitress Faye Romano (Odessa Young), and Jon Landau (Jeremy Strong), his record producer and manager who also doubles as his artistic conscience, especially when his label Columbia Records steadfastly opposed Nebraska, because of its potential inability to reach the Top 40 radio market.
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere is a biopic that takes a small slice in the life of a rock music superstar, and through unconventional creative genius and tortured personal struggle, turns it into a pivotal moment that catapults Bruce Springsteen from rock music superstar to rock music legend.
by Stuart Nulman
Other articles from totimes.ca – otttimes.ca – mtltimes.ca
