Descartes

This film is excellent for intellectual history. I've studied Descartes and the history of his time, and this film is spot on accurate, so it seems to me. For those interested in the history of philosophy and the rise of modern science, it is well worth the two-and-a-half-hour watch. For instructors in the classroom: The acting feels a bit staged, and the film is almost entirely seventeenth-century philosophical and scientific debate. So sleep-deprived students would not be able to sit for long viewings without falling asleep. However, particular scenes, especially of key moments in the development of Descartes's philosophy can be selected out and offer terrific visuals to accompany the teaching of Cartesian philosophy and/or the rise of modern science in the seventeenth century. Certainly the whole film could be shown in segments in a course entirely on Descartes. The film also captures insights into the religious hegemony and theological debates in Europe at the end of the Reformation. Because the film is in Italian, it would also be an excellent exercise for those studying Italian since every scene is a matter of dialogue.

At first glance this is the most tedious of Rossellini's portraits, double the length, with even more repetitive talk about a more abstract subject: the correct use of mind. The character is portrayed in the most distant light of all. The tensions are the most faint: Descartes has to fight prejudice like Socrates in a previous film by Rossellini but he's never really troubled, he has to worry about the Church but he can safely publish in tolerant Holland.

The most interesting way to experience the man would be in the course of making his observations: it would have to be visual, internal, in space. Not very educational; a different thing altogether than Rossellini tried with any of these things. Instead we have only the expositions of thought in long monologues, the sober history.

It's all there in a roundabout way. In a nutshell what Descartes was doing was this: the senses are unreliable and I have reason to doubt them, the world tentative, the only thing that is concretely known to me is that 'I think'. This was his anchor from which to reconstruct all the other stuff.

Now the observations are central in the sense that we needed someone to come up with the first intuitions so we could have a picture of what to correct and overcome. Indispensable in his time when mind was all sorts of muddled ideas bundled together, with hindsight we can see that in his quest for absolute clarity he severed a lot of vital nuance that we've been putting back in.

So, tedious and dry if you stick to the thought, educative. But if you see past his 'I' that thinks and thinks and into the pooled space of life in which it appears?

Rossellini's Socrates offered warm interrogation. Descartes does haughty exposition. Socrates was also concerned with drawing limits to reason but it was to free thought. Descartes wants to make it concrete. One man therapeutic, the other arrogant and dogmatic in his way. This is why Rossellini includes his erroneous views on the boiling heart and fluid heavens around an immovable earth, we're meant to see a sometimes presumptuous man who is prone to error as much as anyone.

One reviewer seems to think that Rossellini undertook the project to celebrate reason over prejudice, not quite of course. That's only one side of it. Rossellini contemplates both sides; and does it with the hand of a cinematic master.

Another reviewer deems this worthy for classroom use; I agree, it's a solid exposition and likely the only one on the subject that we're going to have for a long time. But I'd also draw attention to this mechanical view of life that results from it; people are like trees in a forest Descartes muses, inanimate nature, his newborn baby is a perfect machine of nature, in the end when he grieves he wants to 'extinguish the senses' and withdraw to reflect.

(Exercise: put the man to the test, try to not think. It's okay to learn stuff, but how about we actually see our own mind for a change? Sit somewhere quiet, eyes closed, relax the body, focus on the breath thinking nothing. When the mind strays in thought gently bring it back. This is the preliminary for Buddhist meditation, so you can snoop around the web for better instructions, the concept is the same. Descartes was not trying to model some other 'I', it was this one in his own mind. What happens? Where is I?)

I saw it more than a good film but as magnificent trip. Not across a rich, beautiful life or great work of a remarkable director, but as a wise try to explore the meanings of life. It is more than beautiful, right or fair portrait of rene Descartes. It is one of films for who the term memorable has so many significances. So, just a profound useful experience.

I rented this because I found it on a list of impressive foreign films. As far as any attempt at adventure or cinematography, other than a still camera, there is very little. When the woman tries to dump the wash water one of Descartes' friends, that's about as much action as one gets. Still, it is really cerebral and it's a way of putting forth the ideas of one of the world's great thinkers. I believe that when one embraced science, it could be very risky. Yet, rather than being executed, this man had options; mostly to find a place that accepted him or at least tolerated him. The church has been the biggest enemy to intellect throughout time and here it is no exception. I did plot through this, but I felt that it taught me something.

The life of Rene Descartes ('Cartesius' in Latin) is quite interesting for many people. Considering his many contributions to mathematics, philosophy and science, it's no wonder that someone has made a film about him. However, and this is important, HOW many people will want to watch this?! In this age of "Batman", "American Idol" and the like, just which people will watch "Cartesius"? Certainly a small--a VERY small--minority of the population. Many won't understand his concepts but most simply won't care. So, although director Roberto Rossellini crafted a very fine film here, it just doesn't have a bit market. And, it's a shame, as it is a quality project throughout--a very quiet and intellectual project. So, if you are into math, science, philosophy or even history (and who isn't, right?!), then by all means watch and enjoy. Otherwise, you will find all this very tough going--though I did find the music very strange and distracting at times.