Borrowed Time: Lennon’s Last Decade

By: Jennifer Vintzileos

Many of us have learned about John Lennon’s legacy from his time with The Beatles, yet his career was more than just that as one-fourth of “The Fab Four.” After Beatlemania and before his death on December 8, 1980, what was John Lennon doing? Written and directed by Alan G. Parker, Borrowed Time: Lennon’s Last Decade provides insight into Lennon’s life during the 1970’s in a post-Beatles career….with commentary from the journalists and music industry experts who remember him well.

As Lennon began to find himself when Yoko Ono entered his orbit, his time with The Beatles was ending. Without the other half of the Lennon-McCartney songwriting duo, John finally had the time to come into his own musical awakening and work on music that helped him find his own voice. But for John, music was not the only passion in his life as he also used his voice to become known as an activist and mouthpiece for the people. Many loved him and others tried to make an example of him publicly for his views….yet Lennon remained steadfast in his message to the world. Within one decade Lennon was finally showing everyone that he could live outside of his former Beatles persona and stand on his own merit as an artist and an individual….until his life was taken that fateful day in December 1980.

While there are countless documentaries about John Lennon and the various aspects of his life, director Parker brings a fresh perspective by steering away from some the more prominent figures that have spoken about John. Instead, in Borrowed Time we are given accounts of more individuals that were impacted by Lennon and shared their own stories. Lennon becomes less of an untouchable character and the audience can see that John’s goal in his final decade was finally breaking free of The Beatles and working to discover who he wanted to be not only as an artist, but as a person.

What I enjoyed most about Parker’s take in Borrowed Time:Lennon’s Last Decade is that level of vulnerability and honesty that many spoke about. John was a man of his word yet still trying to reconcile the parts of himself outside of the fame, always looking for something that we’ll never be sure if he found. He wrote songs for himself rather than an audience, displaying a vulnerability that most of us in our youth can work through and grow from while Lennon was under the spotlight. When John had begun to lose his way and purpose, his “Lost Weekend” period provided a space to reconnect with those musical roots and even make peace with his former bandmates. The 70’s became Lennon’s time to finally come to terms with his past and make sense of his world moving forward. It’s just unfortunate that his time was cut so abruptly.

At the end of his life, Lennon remained as optimistic as ever that he had time to continue making music and being heard in his own right…especially as he worked on a potential tour for Double Fantasy. And while he has been gone for almost forty-five years, Lennon’s legacy continues to live on….whether you are a Beatles fan or admire his solo work. Borrowed Time: Lennon’s Last Decade is set to open in UK cinemas on May 2nd.