Planetary

Watching the movie brought me in a very peaceful state. A state in which I view every part of earth as a part of myself. The movie starts off with the astronauts talking about their experience in space. This made me realize that this view of the world is needed, especially in contemporary times. A view that Earth is one living organism in this gigantic universe. A view that goes beyond species, race, borders, nationalities and communities. It made me realize that once we eventually do become a species that travels to other planets and maybe even star systems, it will radically change the way we view our existence. As the concept of tribe relates to a kingdom, the concept of kingdom to nationality, so will nationality eventually relate to Planetary.

All these ideas and feelings came to me in the first 15 minutes. The rest of the movie was more a filler with commentary by various people from different walks of life, accompanied with beautiful imagery. It is interesting that in a movie that was fairly centered around spiritual ideas no mention was made to theistic religions. Which was fine for me, but I can imagine some of my fellow Earthlings feeling left out.

The opening message was very strong, the rest of the movie could have left out some of the commentary so that the viewer has more time to reflect on the core message. A tribesman jumping around in animal skins talking about mother earth, or monks chanting away "mindlessly" in a monastery did not contribute to the message of interconnectedness, mindfulness, caring, appreciation and love.

I went into this thinking it would be a great documentary with great visual images and maybe I could learn something about science or astronomy.

Nope that's not what you get here we get almost 2 hours of being lectured by pseudo professionals. I've never heard of lambasting human nature, how terrible we are and what we could become.

Do they know anything about evolution or human nature at all? It's all a fight for survival of resources. What do you think the Neanderthals or the caveman did?

You don't take away any information from this except wishful Kumbaya thinking like another user said.

Fast-forward through the lectures, which is every other scene and maybe pause some of the beautiful imagery. Which is a task in itself.

This beautiful film shows how we have gained self awareness of our planet, especially when first looking at ourselves "in the mirror" from outer space in the 1960s. The film presents a rather Buddhist viewpoint, which is fine by me. However, the talking heads in the film are mainly American, and since this is a film about our planet the cast could have been more international. Perhaps the Haida Gwaii nation in Canada could have been interviewed, as well as a nod to Marshall McLuhan with regard to our self awareness as a species (the "global village").

Well worth seeing, over and over again, to remind ourselves of our place in nature.

This is documentary with lots of unknown experts pontificating about the environment, spirituality, and the world. Quite frankly, I don't know these people. Their philosophy talk is a nebulous crossword puzzle kumbaya singalong. There are moments of clarity about our connection to the world except it keeps repeating the point or that it meanders around in a subject which is too vast to document. There are some cool visuals of people, nature, and the world from space. This is compelling for the crystal crowd and important for the environmental warriors amongst us. This is not going to convince any non-believers. It doesn't lay out any facts for their case. This is a marriage of the all-one-world-doctrine and the flashiness of nature documentaries. It's like a boring diner party where everybody talks above their heads and you're forced to pretend to be interested. It's way too long and I got the point the first time around.

I've never seen so beautiful and emotional movie in my life. Thank you for taking my feelings about this world and putting them into this overwhelming story.This movie should be seen by every man, woman and especially child on this planet so they can get a real perspective of the world which they live in. Every man and woman that speaks in the movie should be in heard by everyone on this planet so everyone can hear this huge wisdom.

Cant wait for two more episodes.

God bless you, Planetary.

John