The Beatles were one of if not the greatest band in the history of rock n roll music. I know a lot of people who say this band is their favorite to this very day. They had many number one hits, but like all good things, they eventually broke up. Most people blame the relationship between John and Yoko as the reason. They had a different idea where the band should go, so they went their separate ways. John and Yoko were doing their own thing, which included activism, supporting political causes, and getting involved with people like Jerry Rubin, a self described public enemy of the establishment run by then President Nixon. The documentary One To One: John & Yoko deals with all of this and much more. “Imagine” another great song, Allen Ginsburg, 

The film is filled with all kinds of things that make it very different from a lot of documentaries I’ve seen in recent years.  As the title suggests, it’s John and Yoko living their lives going through all the ups and downs in the world.  It deals with many more topics than just them, though. They were activists and showed the country they didn’t care about  what was going on at this time in history. They wrote and sang songs that represented their feelings.  A tour called “Free the People Tour”  was formed fir them to go around showing their loyalties towards the things that meant the most to them where they sang some Lennon classic songs like “Shine On” Imagine”,  “Give Peace A Chance” and many others.

The main focus of the documentary was that it had quite a bit of archival footage from the time these two were doing the things they were doing. The archival footage was extensive, and showed all kinds of things including concert footage, new footage,  home camera stuff, and and a little reenactments from their two room flat in the east village of New York City. I very much enjoyed all the concert footage of John and Yoko singing all the songs from the past.  I got to see a side of these two people I didn’t know that much about. That was very informative for me.

There were a few technical things that added to the story. A series of phone calls including John and Yoko Ono, AJ Weberman,Jim Keltner, Howard Smith,Mary Pang, John Klein, and an unnamed journalist colored text on screen. These phone calls were very informative and enlightening to listen to. They showed some of what was said between people involved in the events that were going on at the time. Another was a series of interviews on popular talk shows that showed the state of the country and where the pair stood regarding why people didn’t like Yoko and John being together. They caused quite a turmoil in the world because most people didn’t think Yoko was good enough for John. That didn’t matter, though, because they loved each other and had a son Sean.

As documentaries go, this one had a slanted view of the world. It had a specific take that it wanted to get across to those who were watching it . Sam Rice-Edwards and Kevin McDonald  wanted fans of John Lennon to get a different viewpoint regarding his relationship with Yoko Ono. As I wasn’t as familiar with the pair as others, I gravitated towards their activism and the stances they took towards the government and so forth. These were the parts of the film that made the biggest difference to me.  The weird part of one of the main things they supported was in the title of the documentary,  but was put on the back burner when it came to the narrative of the film. That was an odd depiction from that point of view.

The 70s was a decade that had quite a bit of civil unrest in the country and abroad. The documentary shows many moments from the decade involving kidnapped passengers of a plane, the Watergate Scandal, and the Attica State prison riot. All these events motivated John Yoko to do more for the country in the form of songs and support via giving money to various causes. How music and everything played into the country was a key to getting this done. Whether to get a prisoner released from jail or other controversial delicacies. Getting involved made everything better in the end. The right thing usually happened as it showed with Nixon resigning his presidency.

One To One: John & Yoko was a very eliminating film. It showed sides to this legendary member of The Beatles I wasn’t familiar with. The Slanted viewpoint, though made the relationship between John & and Yoko, made the relationship between them better than it may have otherwise seemed at first glance. The technical aspects of the documentary give it a different style than most other films of this nature. I really enjoyed all the different ways the directors used to tell the story in the film. It made a better experience overall for me while watching it.

4 stars

Dan Skip Allen