Quem Somos Nós?

My wife and I had heard enthusiastic recommendations and came to the film expecting something along the lines of "A Brief History of Time." Do not bother seeing this movie if that is what you're expecting! I am a professor of philosophy (with my area of specialty being philosophy of science) and my wife is a professor of biology. We found about one third of the claims (in our respected fields) to be flat out false; another third were blatant hyperbole or, at best, "poetic truth"; the final third were, indeed, true. However, the entire film was presented as if 100% of the content was uncontested scientific Truth (with a capital "T")! Many of the claims were downright embarrassing and more in line with the claims of urban legends and/or those asinine emails about weird phenomena that are forwarded to you by burned-out new-agers. Instead I highly recommend Errol Moritz's aforementioned documentary on Hawking, or perhaps his excellent "Fast, Cheap and Out of Control." In fact, I even recommend "Showgirls" over this travesty committed, sadly, in the name of science.

Okay, cult ties or not, this was an interesting film. It offers up a variety of ideas and leaves it to the viewer to decide whether or not to believe. Visually, it was a beautiful film with great art direction and special effects. Marlee Matlin was effective in the main role, although I thought the "story" detracted from the documentary portion of the film.

As to the film's ties to cults--I didn't see anything coercive or subversive in the film. After viewing it, I'm not ready to sell my soul to some guru. OTOH, I do find myself thinking more about the thoughts I have, and the effect they have on my spirit and body. Moral of the story--take out what you will, and don't join a cult. Duh.

I was not surprised to see many of the comments here about this film calling into question everything about it's premise. While reviewing this film for my newspaper (Cedar Rapids Gazette) I knew immediately that the concepts would be controversial and hard for the conditioned American mind to wrap itself around.

Having said that, it seems that many people view a movie like this as an all or nothing proposition -- if one theory or belief seems flawed, then it all must be called into question. What I think too many polemicists are forgetting is that this picture is a smorgasbord of different theories presented, as Rod Serling might say, for you approval -- or not.

But what many are missing is what makes this film revolutionary -- that filmmakers were able to present these concepts in the medium of film in a way that was at least entertaining and most, thought provoking. You don't have to buy off 100 percent on what is here, but the presentation, in and of itself, was stunning in its bombardment of the viewer with multi sensory imagery.

That this film was even made at all is a mini-miracle, especially in our current intellectual and cultural climate. Its sad to me to see such judgmental reviews. I knew conventional Christians would simply dismiss this as "new age" fluff and I mentioned that in my review. But I would have hoped that lovers of film and higher order thinking would be more tolerant of some of the excesses.

In short, this is a film that needs to be seen not just for its quasi-cinematic, quasi-documentary methodology but for a presentation of theories and beliefs that are rarely discussed in the ossified American mainstream. For that alone, I thank the filmmakers.

In the Victorian era, the "new science" was the extraordinary new theory of electromagnetism. Maxwell's equations were every bit as revolutionary as relativity or quantum mechanics would be later. The new age religion of the era was spiritualism, the belief in the afterlife and the ability to cross into it.

As surely as snow falls, religion will appropriate the prevailing cosmology for its own ends. A century ago that was science and so it is today. Then, the appropriation of Maxwell's insights on electromagnetism was an amazing confabulation of "animal magnetism" and vibrational resonance. We don't use the term "Mesmerism" any more, but in any new age bookshop, you'll still see references to vibrations. The notion of "auras" is from this era.

Every time science produces new tools, it gets swallowed by folks hungry for some "explanation" of what they would believe in any case. So when there was a new notion of relative time, you had a slew of religious notions woven around it. You can trace the main ones to Ouspensky and Gurdjieff. In that case, psychism and reincarnation found scientific explanations.

Quantum mechanics affords much greater flexibility for the next generation of appropriators, the era we are now in. That's because it has intrinsic mystical features even for the staid physicists who use it.

This movie has three parts. The first merges quantum physics with ordinary life. The second introduces a theory of consciousness that enfranchises individual cells (here shown in animation) with intent and agency. And the third part merges the two in a way that suggests you can control at least your own body and perhaps the physics of the space around you. Its all linked to QM.

The problem is that these folks start with the convincing notion that we live in a world of inadequate models. That's a good insight. Then they introduce QM as if it really was the way the world works. It isn't, folks. Its just another model, and a very, very problematic one at that. In physics, it doesn't even work in the most common force in physics, gravity.

It has absolutely no utility or meaning in the fields of chemistry, biology, and all the social and cognitive sciences that are the lions share of where we actually live. And even where it applies, it applies at scales that are so tiny the notion of "observer" becomes laden with artificial baggage.

There are very serous scientists who are dedicated to eliminating it as a theoretical tool because it reduces the world to numbers, the most ridiculously blunt abstraction. Just because you find a physicist with a PhD, doesn't mean you've found someone who understands the limits of the method.

The real sadness about this is that there really is a mystical vision to be had here. Its one that works with the notion of notation always being ephemeral. These smoothtalking purveyors of happiness are our worst enemy because they simply substitute one mythology for another. You owe it to yourself to study the issues here well enough to discard them.

Otherwise, you might as well just give up and do what the man wants.

I usually like watching movies made by religious zealots. They are often about fighting the devil, and the makers really believe the movie itself fights the devil. Its a cool fold. But this is just dangerous nonsense.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

At first..... I really loved this film - and it's message - until digging a bit deeper. I found evidence that the production staff was actually the front for a New Age group - the Ramtha School on Enlightenment.

My first suspicion that something was wrong ... the scene of the ice crystals purportedly influenced by thought...(?)

Then the blond Hungarian (or whatever that accent was...) seemed to be a "little too dreamy while talking". This should have been expected, though, as she claims to be the channeler of a 35,000 year old man. (I kid you not, find it yourself....)

If you want a jumping off point to decide for yourself, look at Wikipedia and csicop.org.

Now the only remaining wonder I have (after wasting my time on this film) is ... why Dr. David Albert didn't sue the group for misrepresenting him? (His interview was fortuitously edited to support the film's main premise.)

Entertainment, yes - a good time was had by all. And for a time I was also "had". I resent being conned by this pseudo-documentary!

Sorry, Bleep - this goes on the shelf with the Da Vinci Code, Cave of the Ancients, and the writings of Charles Forte.

As a truly great man once said: "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof."