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The Killing of John Lennon Cosrno Landesman This is a well-researched, fact-based drama about Mark Chapman, the man who, in December 1980, murdered Lennon. Since we know what happened, all that's left for the writer and director, Andrew Paddington, to explore, is the mysterious: Why? And this he does with great enthusiasm. going deep into Chapman's dark, mad mind. The challenge for Piddington is to make the narcissistic nobody Chapman an interesting character, which is a result he definitely achieves. Hut the best thing about the film Is that it successfully challenges the Chapman story as it is conventionally told. First of all, we see ho was not your typical isolated, rootless young man. t le was not abused as a child or tormented as an adult. Secondly, since killing Lennon he has come to symbolise the dark side of modern celebrity: the fan who becomes the fanatic, who will kill for his own 15 minutes of fame. Yet though Chapman came to enjoy his notoriety. that was not his prime motive; he killed Lennon because he thought he was a hypocrite. What's missing, however, is a sense of the private Chapman. Although we hear a voice-over of his actual words, you novor really get a sense of him off camera, as it were. So we never really get to understand him. The film ends with a curious irony. Chapman must remain in solitary imprisonment forever, to protect him from the peace-loving Lennon fans who want him dead.
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