LET HIM BE - film explores the idea of finding John Lennon alive and well

 LET HIM BE – In December 1980 we lost a hero---or did we?

(Film Written and produced by Peter McNamee, co-produced by Martin Katz and Carol Wright, 2009)

Get the popcorn. The new film Let Him Be, by Peter McNamee is a fictional film about John Lennon that premiered during International Beatle Week in Liverpool in August of 2009. Despite its fictional premise, it’s got an intriguing plot, believable characters, and fascinating cinematic style that even historians will enjoy– could the aging guy in that grainy video, with the guitar and British accent, be John Lennon?  And are those new songs by John Lennon?

Upon first glance at the ad for the film, this history buff had an initially disinterested reaction. But within two minutes of the film, I was hooked. Mark Staycer is cast perfectly as John Lennon, with stunningly accurate characterization and appearance and voice. But the plot and the journey through the film, as well as the music, are equally fascinating.

The film opens with two young film students who are given an old video camera that was purchased at a garage sale. The guy, Tim, discovers there’s a tape inside so he plays it to see what’s on it. As his girlfriend Kathleen is yakking at him from the kitchen, Tim’s eyes grow wide as he sees a brief 2-second clip of an older man with long hair and a guitar and a British accent, singing at a child’s birthday party. He rewinds it, plays it again…and again…and again. He leans forward, face frozen. “Is that John Lennon?” (see trailer)

Tim convinces a very skeptical Kathleen that they must pack up the van and discover the truth about the man in the video. What if John Lennon were still alive after all, and hiding on a remote farm in Canada? After determining the exact location of the garage sale in northeastern Canada, they set out with all kinds of camera and surveillance equipment, as film students would do, and head to the area. The viewer is then taken along on their enticing journey.

Tim does some light research into the Lennon Conspiracy Theories, setting up the possibility for the viewer that Lennon could have survived multiple gunshot wounds after being gunned down on December 8, 1980. (These theories do exist. Read them here.) Thankfully, the film doesn’t get bogged down here, it keeps moving. But it’s an important element in the progression of the story line and adds needed drama and plausability.

In documentary-style cinematography, the couple film and interview many of the townsfolk in the little agricultural town located in northeastern Canada, subtly attempting to find out where this man might live, without coming out and asking. If it really is John Lennon, they intuitively suspect that the man might not want to be discovered, so they have to be careful what they say. This part of the journey is at times incredibly hilarious and very well done. The people they meet along the way are down-home farmers, shop keepers, musicians and plain folk, all with their own stories to tell. And it's fantastic.

Many of the characters’ names will be familiar to Lennonologists: The man who looks like Lennon is called “Noel” by the townspeople (John Lennon’s first wife’s current husband’s name); “Babs Baker” is his girlfriend (the name of Lennon’s actual first girlfriend); his cousin’s name is Stanley (John really has a cousin named Stanley), and so on.

Without giving away more of the plot or the movie, I’ll only add that John (Mark Staycer), and Stanley the cousin (Graham Wignal) are real enough to put momentary doubt into your head as to whether this is really fictional or not.

Peter McNamee has composed the “Lennon songs” played in the movie: I Was There, Rock and Roll, and W, a political shot at George Bush. The songs are very much along the lines of what we might have heard from Lennon, not at all bad. (Listen at the link provided above.)

Another very different underlying theme in the movie is the question of ethics. The surveillance methods that Tim and Kathleen use in their efforts to spy on the man they believe could be John Lennon are frightening in real life, if they were actually used. Would someone really go that far? 

But it made this fictional “documentary” worth watching and definitely entertaining.

Our opinion is that this film works well on more than one level:  there is the Lennon storyline itself, which is entertaining and workable; and the music is stunningly great. The demographic make-up of a small town in northeastern Canada is explored and done in the style of a well-done documentary; and thirdly, the question of ethics and the value of privacy of a famous icon arises.

Kudos to Peter McNamee and all involved with this film. We all wish that our fantasy of finding John Lennon alive and well would come true. And this film allows us a moment to indulge in that wish.

(Discover how the concept behind this movie developed, and the underlying conspiracy theories about John Lennon's death.  Read our interview with Peter McNamee here)