Borrowing Time

For over three years, Borrowing Time follows Henri Landwirth as he seeks to take measure of his past, re-visit its haunting ground, and in doing so find release from its hold. The film begins with Henri's hope that maybe someday the numbness that haunts him might go away and he can start feeling again. He confides that by returning to Poland and facing his past there it might in some way free him. Henri tells us about the day that two German soldiers decided to fire their rifles in the air and allow him to escape into the woods. Of course, while the German soldiers spared Henri's life, they never really set him free. Henri is an American hero. Someone who gives more than he gets. Someone who opens his life to a lot of personal pain while he seeks to help others. Henri Landwirth came to this country with twenty dollars in his pocket, a very poor command of the English language and a sixth grade education.