I Am Breathing

This film is about the thin space between life and death. Neil Platt ponders the last months of his life. Within a year, he goes from being a healthy young father to becoming completely paralysed from the neck down. As his body gets weaker, his perspective on life changes. “It’s amazing how adaptable we are when we have to be. It’s what separates us and defines us as human beings.”

Knowing he only has a few months left to live, and while he still has the ability to speak, Neil puts together a letter and memory box for his baby son Oscar. How can he make sense of the last 34 years? How can he anticipate what Oscar might want to know about his father in a future Neil can only imagine? He tries to tell the story of his life from his memories and impressions of love, friends and motorbike rides.

Neil faces Motor Neurone Disease with incredible humour and honesty, determined to share this last stage of his life through a blog, which touched many people. With his posts forming the film’s narration, I Am Breathing tries to listen to Neil as he asks ‘what makes us human’ in the last months of his life.