The catalog of Bruce Springsteen’s discography is vast. Every album tells a complete story, has a unique sound to it, and is so very Bruce. Which is why a movie like Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere can exist.
The movie stars Jeremy Allen White as Bruce Springsteen right after the release of The River. At that time, Springsteen returned back to New Jersey for some time off after the tour and found himself writing an entirely acoustic album about his battle with depression, his childhood, and the pain in all of it. That album is Nebraska and is still, to this day, one of his best.
I am bias. This is not only my favorite of Springsteen’s work but my all-time favorite song is featured on Nebraska, a song that White covers beautifully in the film. And what makes this biopic work for me is that it isn’t necessarily about detailing every single fact in Springsteen’s life but, instead, a look at where he was emotionally at the time.
A lot of what makes Nebraska a great album is that you can feel what Springsteen is going through in these songs. That’s why he was so insistent on how the sound of the record was. He wanted you to feel like you were in the room with him. And that is made abduntantly clear throughout Deliver Me From Nowhere.
Yes, we get some insight into his life, mostly through flashbacks. But they are all tinged with the knowledge that this is how Bruce Springsteen remembers his childhood with his dad. It isn’t a movie that details his rise to fame and how he ended up being “The Boss.” It is just a snippet of an artist’s journey and that makes it stand out among the rest.
“Everything dies baby, that’s a fact”
Deliver Me From Nowhere highlights Springsteen’s ability to write his most vulnerable thoughts down into songs. Often, those songs are paired with a catchy chorus that people love to belt out at karaoke. Nebraska is a decidedly different type of album and it bleeds into every frame of Scott Cooper’s movie.
White allow’s Bruce’s vulnerable nature to take over his entire performance. He still has that simmering masculinity in him that the Boss does but he also doesn’t let the trappings of what a “man” is supposed to be consume him. It is why Springsteen is such a great storyteller. He’s willing to tell you how he feels about something and he doesn’t shy away from it. And Nebraska is really to thank for that.
Does Deliver Me From Nowhere do anything different from other biopics? Yes and no. It is more laser focused on one aspect of its subject’s career and that, in turn, makes it less of a glazing overarching narrative about how great an artist is. But it is also a biopic where we know the outcome. The only difference here being that Nebraska remained one of his lesser beloved albums and, hopefully, people will view Springsteen’s best work differently now.
Go to the cinema for White’s performance and Jeremy Strong having the time of his life but stay for one of the greatest albums ever written. And please, for me, stay and appreciate a really great live rendition of “Atlantic City” that plays over the credits. Listen to the words and connect with my favorite song.
(featured image: Macall Polay/20th Century Studios)
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