“I drove my chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
And they good ol’ boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye
Singin’ this’ll be the day that I die
This’ll be the day that I die”
On Disney+ from January 23 comes Springsteen – Free me from nothing. Do not expect a conventional musical biopic, nor a review that analyzes Boss’ career with precision and detail on dates, events and circumstances. Free me from nothing is a film about inner malaise, the inability to live the moment without looking back or being afraid of tomorrow. It is the story of a myth, which here is more common than ever: the human portrait of a fragile person, who in a particular moment of his life, felt urgent, the need to move away from everything and everyone, sheltering in a lost place, isolated, without chaos, without noise, without the media rhombus, the echo of the success that is going to overwhelm him.
Springsteen in that 1982, departs so far from the blinding and oppressive New York spotlights, and takes refuge in a cottage in the heart of New Jersey, in that province that has marked every moment, every breath and every memory of his life.
Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2025 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved
He closes himself, he finds himself face to face with his inner traumas, those who have marked Bruce child, who still torment him today, that – from what we can understand from the words of his songs – will never stop doing. A family as heavy as a swan, a violent father (played in the film by an exceptional Stephen Graham), not called sedimented under a thick blanket of fear, guilt, incessant torments. Try to open up to love, at that time, but it fails unknowingly, car sabotandosi without wanting, listening, instead of his heart, that “black dog” that accompanies him every day, sometimes silent, sometimes noisy, and reminds him every day what he wants to forget. The beast that awakens him in the heart of the night, which causes him nightmares, that deprives him of sleep, or at least of a refreshment that could allow him to find a little balance.
Closed in the house, with little cutting-edge instruments and essential, Springsteen writes and affects Nebraska, one of the most tormented, introspective and painful records not only of the Boss, but of the entire history of world rock. Ten tracks released in September 1982, which clearly mark, one of the most gloomy moments of the singer’s life, which dig in pain and human soul, thanks to unique words and sounds.
Release me from nothing, directed by Scott Cooper, it flows on the screen for two hours, telling that crucial year for the Boss, availing itself of flashback on his childhood and, sometimes, of a black and white fundamental to treat the features of that depression that for years accompanied him, in the life of every day, by common man, inside and out from stage, by undisputed myth of contemporary music. On his side, the inexorable friend and manager, Jon Landau, a supporting column for Bruce, a faithful shoulder, a patient confidant.
Jeremy Allen White had all the cards in rules, given his previous roles, to play the Nebraska Springsteen: from Lip Gallagher in the Shameless TV series, to Carmen Bezzegatto of The Bear, the fragile and tormented role fits him in a brush, and also this time does not disappoint. An interpretation that could be worth him the deserved Oscar, thanks to the meticulous work he did on himself to return to the public and fans, a Boss who was worthy of that nickname. Dark hair and eyes, rockstar look, lattiginous look and horny expression, with its Brooklyn accent that well fits the most “strascicato” of New Jersey. Allen White achieves a degree of credibility not indifferent in motives, in the facial mymic and voice, bringing on the big screen the rock icon so loved by the public: is intense, deeply credible, moving in its fragility.
Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2025 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
On his side, a magnificent Jeremy Strong (Succession) – who deserves the Oscar as a non-star actor – for the delicacy and grace that demonstrates in interpreting Landau: a defiled but fundamental, noisy sometimes, but necessary, especially for the epilogue of this obscure parentheses of one of the most beautiful voices in the world
The article Springsteen – Free me from nothing, the solitude of the Boss. The film review with Jeremy Allen White and Jeremy Strong comes from Dituttounpop.it.
