Mindwalk

Mindwalk opens with two friends going on a visit to Mont St. Michel in Normandy, France. A beautiful and significant place for its embodiment of the visions of early Western Civilization.

While walking among the island the poet and politician meet a scientist and all three join together in a day long conversation. I love these kind of talk movies, like "My Dinner With Andre", but I love other movies as well, but to date to be different and inject ideas into movies is something I really respect, even if I don't agree with the ideas.

"Mindwalk" is a 1990 feature film directed by Bernt Amadeus Capra, based on his own short story, based in turn on the book The Turning Point by his brother Fritjof Capra, the author of the book The Tao of Physics. I've never been impressed with unscientific and non- mathematical illuminations of physics, but "Mindwalk" is not really about physics, it is about the mind of Western Civilization and where it has been and where it is going.

This movie was made in 1990, released September 9, 1990, and in the intervening 23 years a lot has changed that I would say totally is in harmony with what was said in this movie about how the mind of man, the scientist, in this case a woman, critical, has created so much but has used it in ways that have brought about so many problems and so much pain.

Mont. St. Michel is an island monastery, a fortification, an apt place to analogize the Western mind. On that island are the remnants and institutions that have held Western Civilization together, and indeed expanded it. At one point in the movie they enter the torture chamber with all its implements of pain - used on anyone who had a different thought.

Now it is starting to dawn on us that progress comes from the people who have different thoughts. This is a beautiful and intelligent movie. There is no real plot, no action, no explosions, romance or sex, but it will provoke a thought a two. Lucky we don't get sent to the torture chamber these days for that, although reading some people's reviews I think there are those people still out there stuck in the 500's. Not the crowning times of Western Civilization.

10/10 ... an outstanding movie with real ideas expressed beautifully and courageously.

A film that relies heavily on dialogue, but is ultimately fulfilling.

The director has taken the realm of film to display a table top

discussion, or more accurately a philosophical conversation between someone's most interesting and intelligent friends.

It's a movie you can imagine yourself as an eavesdropper in on one of the most engaging and interesting discussions on life.

Worth the two hours and a subject matter still topical to world problems today.

repeat for 10 line approval...

A film that relies heavily on dialogue, but is ultimately fulfilling.

The director has taken the realm of film to display a table top

discussion, or more accurately a philosophical conversation between someone's most interesting and intelligent friends.

It's a movie you can imagine yourself as an eavesdropper in on one of the most engaging and interesting discussions on life.

Worth the two hours and a subject matter still topical to world problems today.

This film is a philosophical conversation between three intelligent people coming from vastly different backgrounds, each being experts in their respective fields of politics, physics and poetry. The three discuss the dominant paradigm of modern culture and how it is limiting when trying to solve the world's problems. When I saw it I was so excited about it that I told all of my friends to watch it, I also added that they would need to watch it when they are alert enough to grasp what is being said. In other words watch it after drinking coffee not after having dinner. The film doesn't evoke adrenaline surges or erotic fantasy; rather it nourishes the mind by forcing you to think. If you don't know what a paradigm is then this film is not for you. It may be too intellectual for the average movie watcher and perhaps is its own unique genre of film.

Mindwalk is a synthesis of physics, politics and poetry. I use the film when I teach about atoms, and the history of science. It is an excellent tool for teaching scientific debate. I have never heard a negative from my students. I have had a lot of questions generated. This coming spring my science club is going to tackle two Capra books, the Tao of Physics and The Turning Point.

ANY film that causes students to ask questions is of value.

The film is as interesting in the What the Bleep film. My major love for Mindwalk is that it does not change in currency, it is as new today as it was when I began using it 6 years ago.

The actors are wonderful. The scenery is beautiful, and the dialog is divine.

Being an egghead of sorts and a student of so many philosophies, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie the first time I watched it, and each time after that. Sam Waterston, Liv Ullman, and John Heard star as 3 people who meet by chance while touring an island. They then spend the rest of the movie talking about various scientific and philosophical concepts. There are brief (and very wooden) appearances by Ione Skye as the daughter of Liv's character.

The topics they discuss are fairly heady, but despite the edgy nature of their topics, the discussion never becomes heated or even mildly animated. Others have made the perfectly valid point that the dialog is one-sided, and I completely agree. Topics of this kind of importance and scope demand a discussion with all viewpoints represented. Otherwise, it can't approach the real heart of the issue, and it spirals rapidly into intellectual propaganda. These are good topics and valid points; they deserve better treatment. Nonetheless, the movie was enlightening on some levels.

I you're going to watch it, don't watch it to be entertained or awed by an auteur's cinematic masterpiece (which this isn't); watch it to expand your mind. Pay no attention to the plot (thin as it is) or the acting (stiff and clumsy at times). Just open your mind to the ideas expressed, then think about it after the movie has ended, because the topics discussed can go so much farther. The movie falls a bit short in expressing them; you'll have to finish the journey yourself.