As someone without much knowledge of Bruce Springsteen’s life, I went into my viewing of his new biopic starring Jeremy Allen White, “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere,” with very little context or pre-conceived ideas. Without getting ahead of myself, I left the theater feeling pleasantly surprised and impressed about how the film defied conventional biopic stereotypes and covered a range of complex topics.
The film was based on a book by Warren Zanes, published in 2023, and covers only around two years of Springsteen’s life – primarily when he was recording his album “Nebraska.” It’s reasonable to assume that this short timespan would sacrifice the context surrounding Springsteen’s rise to stardom. However, the movie works around this by beginning the film with a black-and-white flashback scene of him as a child, and including these flashbacks throughout the rest of it as well. These flashbacks focus a lot on Springsteen’s relationship with his father, which is complicated and tumultuous. There are also scenes in which the flashbacks blend with the present storyline, making for an emotional look into his experiences. Building off of this is the film’s depiction of Springsteen’s struggles with depression and how that impacted his life.
There are very few scenes showing Springsteen performing, which is also pretty different for the genre. However, the musical aspect of the film appears in the behind-the-scenes look at the unconventional methods that went into recording and producing “Nebraska.” It dives deep into the thought process of Springsteen as he wrote and recorded the songs and gives a glimpse into the business elements that his manager and record label dealt with during that time.
The film stays mostly true to Springsteen’s life, as was the case with the book it shares the same name as. However, one major deviation is the creation of a love interest for him, single mother Faye. Created by the film’s director, Scott Cooper, her character represented multiple women that Springsteen dated during the film’s timespan composited into one character. This works for the film as it highlights the struggles Springsteen was dealing with and makes it easier for the audience to follow. Though she was a fictional character, her story did contain references to Springsteen’s real partners.
Lastly, it is also worth noting that Jeremy Allen White delivered a very moving and realistic performance, made possible by the extensive training that went into his preparation for the film.
Though the film may not be doing particularly well at the box office, it is a worthwhile watch for fans of Springsteen and audience members with no prior knowledge of his life alike due to its impressive scope of emotional topics in a relatively short timespan and the behind-the-scenes look it offers viewers.
Junior Emily Myers is a Staff Writer. Her email is emyers3@fandm.edu.