Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere - Review 

Rating: 4 out of 5

BRUCE Springsteen has long been something of an enigma for me. I appreciate some of his music and count some songs among my listening choices, while also appreciating his cultural significance musically. But in truth, I have never really known much more about the man behind the songs.

Scott Cooper’s biopic isn’t the definitive look at The Boss’s rise to legend status. But it does offer a frequently compelling insight into part of what drives him.

Based on the book by Warren Zane (which was also informed by Springsteen’s 2016 memoir), the film focuses on a pivotal period in his life, as Springsteen (played by The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White) returns to New Jersey after touring his first No 1 record, The River, feeling burned out and struggling for direction or even understanding of his life.

It chronicles the formation of ideas that combined to inform his deeply personal 1982 album Nebraska, a folk-tinged acoustic LP that defied expectations and offered a series of melancholy tales of blue-collar workers, criminals and other downtrodden outsiders plucked from his country’s heartland.

Ironically, it was during that period that he also recorded such seminal hits as Born In The USA and I’m on Fire. But they were shelved in favour of Nebraska’s specific style, tone and sound - the securing of which (especially the echo Springsteen almost inadvertently captured on home recordings on a cassette) also forms an important part of the movie.

The creative process is an integral part of proceedings, whether in showing where Springsteen drew his inspiration from (the title track was based on Charles Starkweather’s 1958 murder spree) or how its unique sound was preserved.

It also shows the lengths that Springsteen’s manager Jon Landau (Jeremy Strong) went to ensure it was released as intended (with no tour, promotion or singles), thereby maintaining its integrity and mystery (the album did chart at No.3 in the US in spite of its lack of fanfare).

The film’s primary focus, however, is - as its title suggests - delivering Springsteen’s tortured soul from its nowhere state.

As the film begins, Springsteen is on the cusp of massive fame, yet physically and emotionally spent. Depression envelopes him. He strikes up a tentative relationship with a single mum Faye (Odessa Young, portraying a composite character), yet is unable to commit because of the ghosts of his past and an uncertainty in his self.

A telling line comes early on as Bruce buys a car from a dealer who admits: “I know who you are.” To which Springsteen replies: “That makes one of us.”

It’s this search for identity that provides the emotional core and which is informed by Springsteen’s formative years spent living with a loving mum and a borderline abusive dad (Stephen Graham), an alcoholic battling his own depression.

Graham, as ever, is a foreboding and commanding presence; yet one capable also of fragility and love. His early, more aggressive scenes with a young Springsteen are nicely juxtaposed with something more vulnerable with White’s grown up superstar.

Cooper - as he has previously shown with films such as Crazy Heart, Into The Furnace and Hostiles - is well versed in storytelling that allows room for complex emotions and here, admittedly with Springsteen’s blessing, he offers a probing insight into the singer’s lifelong battle with depression.

White, meanwhile, brings that same tortured genius appeal that he displays so beautifully in The Bear - effortlessly making his Springsteen likeable yet fallible… a man wrestling with himself and his place in the world and the spotlight. Confused yet working towards some kind of enlightenment.

It’s this that lends the film an intimacy and interest that helps it to feel more than just a biopic. It’s also an exploration of mental health, of dealing with fame and its commerciality while simultaneously wrestling with past trauma and relationships.

It did give me more of an appreciation of Springsteen and his music, while also feeling relatable in the way that it deals with non-fame issues.

It’s a film with plenty to say - much like Springsteen’s songwriting.

Certificate: 15

Running time: 2hours