Chapter 27

One of the heartbreaking events that most of us, over the age of 40, remember from our past was the tragic and senseless murder of John Lennon by Mark David Chapman. After all these years there still seems to be a cloud of eeriness about Chapman and the reasons why he committed such a heinous crime. This film takes a different approach to the events that lead up to that dark night in December, examining Chapman's state of mind the three days before the murder. With an overweight Jared Leto in the lead role we're shown an outstanding performance of a deeply disturbed man who had trouble separating fantasy from reality at the cost of a man's life. The delving into Chapman's mind is expertly directed by a young filmmaker by the name of Jarrett (JP) Schaefer, and with a strong film like this under his belt it will be interesting to see where he goes next.
After being obsessed with the Beatles, their music, John Lennon, and the book The Catcher in the Rye, Mark David Chapman believes that Lennon is the focal point of the down turn in society and that killing him is the only way to set things right. Where the story is only set three days before the murder there is a lot of information that has to be digested to understand what's going on. But with the actors pouring all they can into the characters the audience isn't left out in the cold at any point. One of the strongest things that you seeing during the story is the battle between Chapman's mind and his continence on whether or not to go through with the act of killing Lennon.
It is chilling to see this story played out, considering that there were only a handful of people there at the time, and most of us could only visualize what had actually happened. Seeing how close Chapman could get to Lennon only reinforces the need for celebrities to have security during their comings and goings. It's surprising to see all of the connections that Chapman could make between Lennon, his music and the book The Catcher in the Rye, but that's the way a disturbed mind works, and as you watch the film you can almost believe in what he's saying. After seeing this film I was left with some raw emotions about what had happened that December night in 1980, where at the age of 40 the world lost one of the greatest songwriter history.