Its almost 34 years since the Peace Politician – John Lennon born John Winston Lennon; (9^th October 1940 – 8^th December 1980) left us for his heavenly abode. His music still lives on. Enough has been written about Lennon’s Beatle days. But there’s plenty more to this multi – dimensional enigmatic personality of John Lennon.

Imagine, (a song released in 1971) the movie first came out in 1988 and at the time was a revelation for the amount of new material that emerged, truly mind blowing, never seen footage that fans would cherish forever. On this two disc DVD, a part of his life history is brought out in the open, right from his birth which we celebrate on 9^th October.

The film opens on the sprawling estate of the Lennon’s at Tittenhurst Estate, Ascot, England as John and Yoko wake up in the morning. The film is set in the late sixties when the relationship with Yoko first became public. From then on it moves back to the days when the Beatles were formed and the rise to popularity all around the world. The ultimate focus of course is the John Lennon song Imagine which is the basis of this DVD.

You cannot miss out the short but interesting footage of the Beatles in all their finery, the fans reaction and the Beatles conquering New York in 1964. The focus of course is Lennon who wrote most of the songs. There also is a short footage of the performance of the band at Shea Stadium in 1965. So you also have interesting performances of tracks like Twist and Shout, Love me do, Help, Strawberry Fields forever and a host of other Beatle songs. There’s also the never before seen performance of Don’t let me down played by the Beatles on the rooftop; surprisingly it was the last performance ever of the Beatles. And then you also have comments left by personalities who helped the Beatles such as record producers Phil Spector and George Martin, John’s aunt Mary Elizabeth Smith, Beatles Publicist Derek Taylor, the Beatles Manager Brian Epstein and the biggest of them all John’s first wife Cynthia Lennon who gave him their first son Julian.

John and Yoko are then the focus of the rest of the film, be it their art work interests, John’s solo career and his fight for Peace. In 1968 Lennon met mediocre avant-garde artist Yoko Ono that really changed his life forever. It was also around this time that the Beatles career began a downslide. The film now centers around the two especially Yoko’s influence on Lennon. Tragically that influence extended to his music as well. After this, Lennon became more radical, doing certain things that he and Yoko found acceptable. One of them was posing nude with Ono on an album cover and getting busted for drug possession. Also for his art which was termed pornographic. There were other bizarre episodes. Yoko’s influence on their honeymoon got the world outraged by the Press. They spent a week sitting in bed in a hotel in Amsterdam, surrounded by slogans advocating peace. The two of them sat in a bag on a table in a luxurious hotel in Vienna, Austria and called it ‘Bagism’. They also staged another ‘Bed - in’ or ‘Hair Peace’ this time in Montreal, Canada which culminated in a besides recording of a song entitled Give Peace a Chance that was also Lennon’s first solo. These acts projected Lennon in bad taste, though he was accepted the world over to take a step to pose nude. There’s also candid video of John and Yoko undressing and making out on the bed in full nudity. It is surprising that this film was given a ‘U’ certificate in India.

But the Press played up with Yoko whom they labeled as ugly. But Lennon stood up for her when he said. ”You cannot call someone ugly; if she was ugly she wouldn’t be there for me.”

Going onto his solo career, you had one of Lennon's first overt political statement Happy X’mas (The war is over) which is included. Lennon was a dreamer one might say, but though he famously calls himself a dreamer in the song Imagine, he isn’t so as he is a fighter for what is right. In other songs like In My Life, Across the Universe, Strawberry Fields Forever Lennon is crisp and vocal about what he has to say. Lennon was so obsessed with Yoko that he dedicated several songs to her. You have songs like Oh Yoko, Woman, to a cover of Ben E King’s Stand by me a song he wrote when he was alone in New York. There’s also Two Virgins and Jealous Guy.

The film also takes you on a trip when Lennon left native England never to return again, and his several deportation orders. Yoko also had her first child with Lennon whom they named Sean. Lennon recalls the day when his son brought out a drawing of a young lady flying. “That’s Lucy in the sky with diamonds” he had said. He later penned the song that has come to be known as Lucy in the sky with diamonds with lyrics that had ‘newspaper taxis’ and ‘a girl with kaleidoscope eyes’. After the birth of his son, John cut down on his music and was more a family man. In the film there are good conversations with Sean and Julian as they talk about their father.

Being only 40 when he was shot dead by a fanatic fan, Lennon bled to death on December 8^th 1980;Lennon has left an indelible mark as a composer of haunting lyrics and hummable melodies. The Liverpudlian will always be remembered as on of the top performers of our century.

The memories will linger and slowly fade, but the music is forever. Years later he still achieved his most significant chart –topping feat, when Lennon was voted as the greatest music performer of the 20^th century

Disc two has ‘Tribute to John Lennon: The Man, The Music, The Memories’ that consists of comments by the filmmakers. There’s ‘John Lennon: Truth Be Told’ - BBC Radio Interview with John and Yoko; Acoustic Imagine - Never before released performance at the Apollo Theatre, New York City, on 17^th December 1971. Island House - Never before seen footage at the Lake House home of John and Yoko, and William Ernest Pobjoy Interview – An Interview with head master of Quarry Bank High School – John Lennon’s grammar school.

Rating: ****

Reviewed by Verus Ferreira