Springsteen 

Jason Landry, contributor
 

Today I had a private showing of the movie, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere. It’s not because I received special access, it’s because I went to a matinee and nobody was there except for me and a friend. This isn’t a full biopic on Bruce Springsteen, the musician. It’s a movie based on a short timeframe in his life when he was at a crossroads--a musician stuck in his own stuff and not quite sure how to escape it.

 

After the success of his fifth album, The River, Bruce Springsteen left the road, and secluded himself in a rented house in Colts Neck, New Jersey, and with a 4-track tape machine began recording sketches that would eventually be a deeply personal albeit somber album—one that he didn’t even know he was making called Nebraska. Memories from his childhood clouded his vision and put him into a deep funk—a depression that stuck with him for quite a while. During this same time period in the film, he began and ended a relationship. His personal issues didn't allow him the bandwidth to focus on it (one of those, it’s not you, it’s me scenarios).

 

This doom and gloom happens to many musical artists, some know how to seek help and escape it, while others cannot. Whether it’s anxiety, depression, or panic attacks, mental health is something that many people deal with, but is also something that most people tend to try and keep hidden. Springsteen supported the release of this film which was an adaptation of a book of the same title by Warren Zanes.

 

Once Springsteen settled on putting out the album Nebraska, he didn’t want the record company to release any singles, he didn’t plan to do any press, nor would there be a tour following it. Even though the record company was completely baffled by Springsteen’s requests, and not thoroughly sold on the idea, the album still landed on the charts at number three. 

 

The film is as raw as the album—a snapshot in time just prior to Bruce becoming bigger than bubble gum with the 1984 release of Born In The U.S.A.. There have been too many different opinions written about this movie already. There is nothing controversial like you get with other high profile celebrity musicians—there’s no drugs, sex, or debauchery. It’s an honest portrait of the man we all know as “The Boss”. Actor Jeremy Allen White did a fantastic job portraying Springsteen and even sang the songs in the film. As a music lover, but not necessarily an uber Bruce Springsteen fan, I enjoyed it.