For years I have sounded like a broken record about the “new style of documentary” that is nothing more than calculated propaganda. The lack of respect and even irresponsibility of professionals who sign campaigns by people who “want to change narratives”, for me, is criminal. I’m not in favor of prohibiting people from telling the story as they think they should, but it scares me how there are no counterpoints so that the audience is aware of what they are consuming. Today is the anniversary of John Lennon‘s death, cowardly murdered 43 years ago when he arrived home. Apple TV Plus offers the incomprehensible John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial that highlights the killer, questioning motives, and even the fact that to this day he has not been released. Honestly, it’s another 5 shots at the legacy that Lennon left.

Divided into three episodes, there are curiosities for fans: the records of an exuberant, happy John Lennon, excited by the life he could start again at the age of 40, living in New York and dedicating himself to humanitarian causes. A musician who had spent the last 5 years dedicated to his family, gaining a well-deserved space after being a global sensation as the founder of the Beatles. Sadly, we discovered that his last words were of confusion and sadness. “I was shot”, he said before falling to the ground without even understanding what happened. And here’s the question: why did Michael David Chapman kill him?

The suspicious title of the work refers to the fact that the murderer refused to appeal to insanity, assuming he was guilty and therefore eliminating the need for a trial. The discussion that suggests CIA plots and even Chapman’s actual insanity is what the documentary sets out to do, basically asking us to consider that he repented, that he was crazy, and that his requests for parole were denied for the last 23 years, deserve to be heard. What world are we living in?
The lack of sensitivity in placing content like this on the platform precisely on the date of the crime shows the lengths to which platforms will go to use the algorithm. They even have a fan suggesting that Lennon would have forgiven Chapman. I prefer Yoko Ono‘s response, who mentions John Paul II‘s gesture towards his own attacker: “I’m not the Pope”, she says, summing it up.

John Lennon did not survive the calculated action of Michael David Chapman that night of December 8, 1980. He had his voice cowardly silenced by a man who had no deep reasons for doing what he did. That’s why he’s had his parole requests denied and it’s absurd for Apple to campaign for him. Because that’s what John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial sets out to do: humanize the artist’s killer.

To pay homage to John Lennon, I prefer to listen to his music. If you miss this documentary, you will be doing nothing more than saving your time. And respect the idol.

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