Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere

Tropic Sprockets by Ian Brockway

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The artist Bruce Springsteen is a legend. Arguably he is the hardest working man in music. In singing about the American male: modest, loyal, and sincere, yet confronted by a faceless, modern, and increasingly selfish world, there is no equal.

In the film “Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere” directed by Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart), we get a brief portrait of the songwriter during a pivotal time in his life.

In 1981 Springsteen (Jeremy Allen White) is gaining notoriety and some fame from his album Born to Run not to mention a popular road tour. His loyal producer Jon Landau (Jeremy Strong) is pressuring him for another steady hit along with an offer to work with the disco queen Donna Summer. Springsteen is even presented with the opportunity to work with Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro. He nervously nods.

Each night on stage, Springsteen sings his heart out and hyperventilates, leaving the stage exhausted and sweating, an icy towel around his neck very like a professional boxer. This man puts his heart into his creations and there is no separation between work and life.

One night during an attack of restlessness combined with reading the author Flannery O’Connor, Springsteen gets the epiphany to go even deeper into his tortured childhood roots specifically addressing memories of his violent, depressive father (Stephen Graham).

The musician is also transfixed by the killer Charles Starkweather who murdered by reasoning (however unrealistic) that he was compelled by circumstances of bullying, feelings of rejection and wanting to escape his mediocre life.

Springsteen becomes increasingly frustrated by the modern trend of commercial prepackaged sounds and the rise of electronic music in the 80s. This is a very compelling concept in the film. However, for some reason it is only touched upon, in favor of a more traditional narrative portraying Springsteen as a detached somewhat romantic loner, tortured by parental circumstances. Much time is spent discussing the technical merit of the album Nebraska and this weakens the film’s dramatic charge.

On the positive, Jeremy Allen White, in speech and physical motion is perfect and a near twin.

The film follows a conventional line, portraying Springsteen as the suffering artist, shy with women, who catches the eye of single mother Faye (Odessa Young). One can see what’s coming: Bruce pours himself into work and does not answer Faye’s calls. Landau becomes worried. Springsteen is growing obsessive and losing touch. More interesting is the musician’s intent, purpose, and his desire to be different but also sincere without fanfare. Springsteen’s acoustic poems, sometimes gentle, sometimes violent, come from the chthonic well, deep within. Springsteen is an astronaut in retrograde. He plumbs the mine below, the bowels of what is human, rather than the outer reaches of space. Springsteen is the subterranean steel worker of blues and poetry, the anti-disco auteur.

The film includes a rousing pitch perfect rendition of “Born in the USA.” which elevates the melodramatic sequences. The film would benefit from more such spontaneous moments.

Jeremy Allen White is uncanny in resemblance, and his father phobia carries charge. One only pines for a more novel treatment in the handling of this very real origin story of New Jersey’s Man of Steel.

Write Ian at ianfree11@yahoo.com