Bruce Springsteen Biopic Shows That Struggle of Making Art is Real
I wasn’t a rabid fan of The Boss when I streamed Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere on a recent flight to Mexico, but I came away from the movie with a new appreciation for Bruce Springsteen’s cathartic musical journey.
As many musicians will tell you, the struggle to create art is real. You’re not just strumming a guitar and penning lyrics. You’re crafting an experience for listeners, while exposing your own vulnerabilities. Everything, from the ambience of the room to the vocal effects and arrangement, matters. I’ve recorded dozens of demos on a 4-track recorder that never saw the light of day because I couldn’t capture their original magic in the studio.
The 2025 movie, starring Jeremy Allen White as Springsteen, showcases the musician’s lowest emotional point in 1982, when, on the heels of a successful run of albums, he embarked on creating Nebraska. It’s an album that was deeply personal and a departure from his career trajectory. In the opening scenes of Deliver Me From Nowhere, we’re taken to 1981, where Springsteen (White) is finishing his tour supporting his fifth album (“The River”). As New York Times critic Manohla Dargis observes, Springsteen’s hit ‘Born in the U.S.A.’ is a few years away, and Springsteen is biding his time immersed in American literature and self-reflection.
As Springsteen starts writing fresh material for this album in a house in Colts Neck, N.J., we see glimpses of turbulent childhood through black-and-white montages, largely focusing on the complex relationship with his father. Springsteen continually revisits his childhood home in Freehold, New Jersey, coming to terms with his past. The extent to which these experiences shaped Nebraska is only fully known to the artist, but the viewer comes away with the impression that Springsteen dug deep to craft new material.
Of course, there are times in the movie shows Springsteen as an insufferable artist, particularly when he engages with his manager, Jon Landau (Jeremy Strong), who works exhaustively to book studio time, protect Springsteen’s interests, and act as a therapist.
But ultimately, the film felt inspiring and real, and I’m now a Springsteen fan. I see him for who he is beyond “Born to Run” or “Born in the USA.”
