Nobelity

It's not everyday one sees a movie like this one. It brought tears to our eyes. I think that Nobelity is a special documentary in a genre with many films that seek to make political statements that literally beat the viewer over the head. No such game here. While political, folks like Desmond Tutu inspire. Narrated by Texan Turk Pipkin, this movie is proof positive that not everyone in middle America is completely wacky. Well, some of us at least make an effort to understand the rest of the world. We've have plenty of nuts, though. I still cannot believe how many people are unaware of this hidden gem. Along with Saint Ralph and the World's Fastest Indian, Nobelity is one on the three best sleeper films I've seen in the last six months. If it comes to your town, please see it. Overall an excellent film. Highly recommend! 10 Stars

The film distracts from main problem and its solution by presenting other mock "issues" / "problems" such as AIDS, terrorism, health issue, hunger, lack of food, etc, etc. Here is the main problem and solution: We depend on nature and animals to survive. Pollution, eating species into extinction and massacre of environment happens on global scale: sacred and very needed by life on Earth trees are being massacred by human predator. Gold mining, illegal tree cutting, illegal ranching in Amazon already destroyed a lot of sacred trees. Animals' habitat is disappearing with exponential (unbounded) rate. Films: "AMAZON with Bruce Perry", "The End of the Line (2009)". Most vicious predator (human) must learn to stop destroying its own environment. While most vicious predator propagates with exponential (unbounded) rate, the nature and animals disappear with exponential rate at the hand of most vicious predator. Most vicious predator must stop unbounded (exponential) reproduction: it leaves no space for healthy environment for most vicious predator and leaves no space for animals. CONSUMPTION is not "cool" anymore. So, most of addressed by film problems can easily be solved if YOU, most vicious predator, stop to propagate like flies. Do not send food to Africa. Send condoms and the Morning-After Pills.

I had the honor of attending the world premiere of this beautiful film at the Paramount Theatre during the SXSW film festival in Austin, TX. Turk Pipkin has created a beautiful and deeply personal film about the state of our world today. The film is built around interviews with 9 Nobel Laureates (two of whom have sadly passed away since their interviews were filmed) in Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Economics and Peace (although unfortunately, no literature Laureates). The film serves and an introduction and a wake-up call about the many problems that confront our planet - war and violence, energy, disease, poverty, environmental degradation among others. The film is beautifully edited.

Of course, the no film can offer complete answers to such complex problems. The problems are complicated and interrelated and solutions require political will that seems to be missing in much of the world today - and especially in the United States. But it offers several things our society seems desperately short of today.

First, Nobelity offers us the wisdom of some brilliant minds reflecting on important issues. In an era of fast food talking heads, their thoughtful views and ideas are well worth hearing and reflecting on. Second, it offers us hope. In a time when Americans in particular have become understandably jaded, cynical, despairing and frustrated, Nobelity is an optimistic film. It suggests that the problems confronting our planet an be overcome through reason, cooperation, and hard work. None of the solutions are simple, but neither are they hopeless.

You may not agree with every viewpoint expressed in Nobelity, but its an opportunity to get people thinking and get them talking. Pipkin has done us all a service with through his noble effort and for that we should all be grateful.

While the idea for the film was an admirable one, the decision of the filmmaker to focus on himself distracted most of the attention away from the important issues and intelligent commentary by the Nobel laureates. What could have been introduced in the first few minutes of the film as the motivation for the film lasted the entire time, and detracted from the main point, which was to identify solutions to the world's biggest problems. Instead,the film felt like a travel log for the filmmaker. Also,the music was very poor and distracting. Many of the statements/questions by the filmmaker during the interviews were embarrassingly simplistic and leading.