Indigo

I have known of the story of the Indigo Children for quite some time now, and I have run across cases that seem genuine as well as cases that seem fraudulent. This movie is the latter. Riding the success of the far better "What the Bleep do We Know?" "Indigo" jumps on the new-age bandwagon by making a film, essentially, about super-children. This is not the purpose of the idea of Indigo Children.

The Indigo Children are a new wave of children enjoying a maturity and a sensitivity unusual even in most adults. These children are great teachers, and they bring a childlike innocence back to the idea of wisdom. It is refreshing to see wisdom untainted by a jaded adult perspective in these children.

"Indigo," however, with its ludicrous plot and its poor acting, never substantiates any of its information. It merely tells us the story of a super-child who has control over everything. Ironically, the idea of control over anything is contrary to the very idea of wisdom. The filmmakers will tell you, before the film, that it was not dumbed down. I equate this with Nixon telling us he wasn't a crook. The film is completely dumbed down.

I love the story of the Indigo Children, and I cannot do anything but hope that most of the cases are true, because, if they are, these children represent a new wave of society that is very promising. "Indigo," however, represents one of the worst and most misrepresentative films I have ever seen. I was expecting a semi-documentary, looking at real cases of Indigo Children and the parents and guardians who have lived with them. Alas, this was not the case. I actually almost walked out, and I have never walked out or even considered walking out on a film before. I hope, for all of our sakes and for the reputation of Indigo Children, most people will give this one a pass.

So, what did you think of "Indigo"? Personally, I think it was one heck of a marketing achievement. Imagine, a film that would otherwise go straight to video and sit on Blockbuster's shelf, selling millions of tickets and being shown in thousands of theaters, churches, etc .... all on one night. And, no worries about bad word-of-mouth killing sales. Also, what about that shameless preshow commerical for the "Spiritual Cinema Circle"? I noticed the flyer in the lobby for the SCC didn't mention price.... only if you hurry and sign-up now, you get a free book worth $15. Wow! I want their Marketing Director for a buddy.

Next to "Indigo," most student films I've seen ain't half bad. Certainly, the script, cinematography and acting wasn't much better... if any. In the interviews in the beginning, they said they "didn't water the story down so it would be acceptable for a wide audience." Right! That's why the script was about a drug deal that went bad... with an Indigo kid thrown in. I didn't connect with or feel anything for the characters. And, I certainly didn't come away with a better understanding of Indigo kids or feeling spiritually up-lifted... or any of the things the Producer, Stephen Simon, said the film was going to do. That's perhaps their biggest mistake... creating an expectation they didn't deliver on.

Also, if Stephen had used the adjective "extraordinary" one more time (I counted at least 6 times) to describe the film, I would have puked on the spot. Even the interviews were shot badly... bad lighting and composition, distracting background, etc. And, weren't they were all just too "cute" the way they touched each other? How about that bit after the film? Did everyone join hands and pray at your showing? It didn't happen at the showing I went to Saturday night.... and it was at a Unity Church, where they do that all the time. Somehow, I can't imagine people joining hands at the AMC Theater in Los Angeles?

The subject is definitely material for a good movie.... but Indigo ain't it. However, Inidgo does prove or confirm a number of things: 1) lame dialog and script - authors do not necessarily make good screen writers; 2) terrible acting - acting and directing should be left to professionals; 3) where there's a marketing strategy, there's hope.... for all filmmakers.

Let's face it, we've been had by a marketing phenomena... and it's just started. Think about it. What if only 100,000 people become part of the "extraordinary" spiritual movement, and sign up for the Spiritual Cinema Circle at $29 per month? That's $2,900,000 coming in each month!!

It's the "Blair Witch" phenomenon for 2005... where selling the sizzle is what counts. As a filmmaker, I hated the movie, but love their marketing savy. I will be submitting my most recent documentary to them. So, sign-up now for the Spiritual Cinema Circle and watch for my film on an upcoming offering.

The Indigo movie was not well done. There were artistic problems with the movie and it did not live up to the hype. That said I would prefer watching INDIGO with a community of spiritual seekers than to go to 95% of Hollywood films. Hollywood's hold on the movie going audience is more of a problem to me than Indigo. I agree that Indgio was not comparable with What the bleep do we know. But I think the director's have the right idea. Indigo children is a fascinating subject and the movie did not do it justice. I do think that Donald Neale Walsch's acting was good and some of the scenery in the movie was very beautiful. I think that we should strive for excellence in what we do and I wish that the director's and producers could have worked harder to make a more artistic film. I still am glad I went and would rather watch a movie like Indigo that is about redemption than the exploitation that we are exposed to daily in the media and especially Hollywood movies. I liked seeing ordinary people portrayed on screen instead of women that all look like the mainstream idea of beauty. There was a lot of beauty in the film that was not hard to find. I encourage the producers and directors of Indigo to try again make a better film but I feel my money was well spent by going to see Indigo I have spent much money on typical Hollywood films and felt ripped off but I was not at all ripped of financially by Indigo. I would gladly give more that ten bucks to people who really want to raise the level of healing and spirituality in this time of violence and war that we are constantly exposed to. I took my 12 year old daughter and she was interested in the film but did not seem to feel enlightened by it. She thought the actress who portrayed Grace was Slick. I would give Indgio an A for effort and a D for artistry.

I visited the showing of Indigo in Amsterdam and I invited six friends to join me. Stimulated by the emails, the announcements from the Spiritual Cinema Circle and a trailer-DVD that was sent to me, I had high expectations. That was my first mistake and it reminded me not to expect anything in life. I agree with most of the negative comments about the movie and I am not going to repeat them. I would like to add the following:

1. The indigo child was turned into a super child by combining several rare but proved traits in one character. That made her as unrealistic as Raymond Rabbit (Dustin Hoffman) in Rain Man. The negative effect of this mistake is that viewers can no longer identify themselves with indigo children. They would think "they are definitely not me" rather than attempting to discover aspects of indigo children in themselves.

2. All interesting story lines came to a happy end when Ray (Neale Donald Walsch) prevented the indigo child Grace from being kidnapped by her father. Helas, that already happened after 10 minutes! The rest of the time was killed by driving to a safe place and smart answers of the super child.

3. In one of the last scenes a police agent showed up who appears to have stolen the money. Was that a coincidence too stupid to be true, the work of the super child or a failed attempt to correct a mistake in the script?

I don't mind the bad casting and acting. After all this is a low budget movie. But if you take that out, it is still a bad movie, technically and spiritually. Therefore I don't think it serves the producers to continue the one-sided promotion of the movie on their website and in their press releases. If they are lucky, this might only help them financially in the short term. But it will definitely ruin their reputation in the long term, which would be a pity for the spiritual community and the society as a whole.

The good things I see in this movie are the raising of awareness for indigo children and the learning experience.

Hopefully, the stakeholders are more critical privately than they demonstrate publicly. Only then their new project, a film about Neale Donald Walsch, can become successful.

But I could be wrong. Let's see.

I was disappointed in this film as the film did not live up to its intro. A great premise was marred by bad acting and uneven production values. Make no mistake, the premise for this film is compelling. While the film makes a fairly good case, the idea and need to further study and discuss the subject matter of indigo children (thanks to the intro) the film just doesn't deliver! It certainly seems that the producers are trying to feed off of their first born in this genre, "What the Bleep Do We Know..., Like Bleep it promises existentialist views of rather unexplained events and experiences in our life with a spin that was thought provoking and entertaining. A better film could have done that. Come on guys - don't kill a great start!