Film Review: One to One: John Lennon & Yoko Ono

Review by Roger Paradiso

“Apathy isn’t it. OK, “flower power” didn’t work. So, what? We start again.”  – John Lennon

It’s funny how history repeats. Not exactly but in general. This historically important film covers the 18 months from 1971 to 1973 when John Lennon and Yoko Ono moved from a London that was getting tired of them to Greenwich Village and a stunning collection of artists and people who needed them. In this original film, John says, “I love the vibe in the Village.”

Aided by a television monitor, the film takes you back to Nixon-land with surprising parallels to our current Trump-land. The fun part of this film is the historical TV cuts. My favorite is when Nixon invites a preppy Republican singing group to the White House. “I love it square,” he says when they warble an old song Ma, He’s Makin’ Eyes to Me. A few cuts later, Governor George Wallace responds to a reporter who asks why is he a racist by saying, “I think the biggest racists are the ones who call others racists.” We also see clips of the massacre at Attica State Prison and four antiwar student protestors shot dead at Kent State University by the National Guard.

Because of his stance for “Peace Not War” John made the enemies list during Nixon’s Vietnam war era. The president fixated on the former Beatle and threatened to deport him. Sounds vaguely familiar, doesn’t it?

John and Yoko retreated to a two room loft in the Village and submerged themselves with television, Village artists and political agitators like Jerry Rubin. The famous radical of the day comes across as a pushy zealot who needs John’s celebrity to fuel his larger goals of a revolution. The couple is ready to help to the dismay of John’s manager, who wants them to stay away from the more radical elements. John and Yoko show themselves to be very smart and crafty as they push back on the violent elements of the left while maintaining the moral high ground against the violent Nixon regime.

Here’s where the movie soars. John and Yoko were more visionary artists and not street fighters. They start looking around at the American culture with their spy cam, the TV. We see incredible footage of the Lennons and Rubin on the Mike Douglas Show and the Dick Cavett Show. Yes, artists and a revolutionary on a mid-American talk show. It reached a lot of people which is what John and Yoko wanted, but it was not quite Rubin’s agenda.

Then the Willowbrook scandal broke, about abusive treatment of children in a New York state facility. They were intellectually disabled and left alone in their own filth and waste without any supervision and treatment. That’s when John and Yoko stepped in to do a benefit in Central Park where the kids played in the park and talked with an assigned one to one adult. That night they produced an incredible One to One concert in Madison Square Garden. It’s where we see the rocker in John come out again and the band and sound kick butt. He kills it with the Elvis hit Hound Dog.

The concert was a big hit raising $1.5 million. It was touching when these children were hugged by real people in the park. And their actions caused the politicians and society to change the conditions and laws of treatment for these pool souls.

The film makes a star out of Yoko who is shown to be a calm and caring artist who is against all the chaos surrounding them. She claims that now that she is away from London, she is no longer the bitch who broke up the Beatles. Another thing to note, and something that is rarely mentioned, is that Yoko has a wonderful voice when she isn’t flexing her operatic shrieking.

The Lennons also want a family. This is touching since we have heard about John’s tortured childhood where his father and mother left him when he was four. He was brought up by an aunt who teaches him the guitar. This scene lets us understand Lennon’s demons. Demons that seem to be eradicated by Yoko wanting a child.

The story of John’s battles with deportation are given some space here. What is significant is that he was given green card status two days before their son was born in 1975. And one year after Nixon left office.

The film ends with their ominous move to the Dakota on the Upper West Side where Michael Chapman later puts an end to John’s life…but that is another story.

One to One is an enlightening and informative film about a little slice of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s life in Greenwich Village.

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Streaming on Amazon Prime