Director Tom Shadyac quests for life meaning in the documentary I Am, a visual feast where he interviews authors, thinkers, scientists and spiritual leaders.
Grateful, enthusiastic and funny, the director of Bruce Almighty, Patch Adams, The Nutty Professor and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective begins by recalling his 2007 cycling accident. Suffering from Post Concussion Syndrome, he was isolated for months with painful sensitivity to light and sound.
Shadyac calls this his dark night of the soul, a life turning point. The resulting depression left him only one place to go – within. He began to consider: What’s wrong with our world? What can we do about it? Suddenly, Shadyac’s pain and symptoms began to fade. With renewed clarity and purpose, he returns to filmmaking.
Among the notables in I Am (most have never heard of Ace Ventura) are Bishop Desmond Tutu; author and MIT linguist Noam Chomsky, and the late historian Howard Zinn. Tutu addresses being, while the other two address doing.
“I depend utterly on other human beings to be human,” says Tutu. Chomsky chides America for the post-911 mantra: shop. Zinn reminds us that “everyday acts, small acts build over time” to create change. “Every word you utter has an effect.” Images from the civil rights and anti-Apartheid movements are shown.
We are powerful, according to I Am. Historic shifts are the direct result of a collective change of heart and mind. When writer G.K. Chesterton was invited to pen an essay about the world’s ills, he famously replied: “Dear Sirs, I Am.” Power and responsibility lie within.
Shadyac walks his talk. He takes us on a tour of his former 17,000-square-foot Pasadena mansion and private jet. He sold both, and now lives in a mobile home in northern Malibu. He bikes to work whenever possible, teaching at Pepperdine University. He also began the I AM Project which includes a non-profit foundation.
I Am presents us with many cool ideas. Competition and consumerism are seen as forms of mental illness. “Greed is good” isn’t. When Native Americans shared their bounty communally, they didn’t experience poverty or homelessness. “What is an economy for? How much is enough?” asks author David Suzuki.
Humanity’s biggest problem may be its separation from the natural world that sustains us. Suzuki says that “all life is our biological kin.” Most of our genes are identical to those of animals, he reveals. Coleman Barks, who wrote The Essential Rumi, believes that “You couldn’t possibly go to war if ‘the beloved’ was everyone.”
Wacky experiments provide good photo ops, but don’t prove anything and won’t placate left-brained viewers. Shadyac and a dish of yogurt are connected via electrodes. His positive or negative thoughts affect the living cultures immediately. Another experiment seems to indicate that his mind knows which picture will appear a few seconds before it is shown.
Shadyac seeks scientific validation here even though contemporary science is based on the idea of separation. Scientific “solutions,” like economic ones, have contributed to our problems. We do learn that Charles Darwin used the word “love” 95 times in The Descent of Man, and the phrase “survival of the fittest” only twice.
The Institute of HeartMath has determined that the heart guides the brain and generates an electromagnetic field beyond the physical body. We are programmed to love and cooperate, Institute studies have found.
Shadyac meets with his dad Richard Shadyac Sr., former CEO of the fundraising division of St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. The elder Shadyac, who passed away in 2009, regretted that the love evident during Sunday services seems to evaporate when people return to everyday life.
The film missteps occasionally. Cooperation in the natural world is called “democracy,” for example. Brief flashes of horrific animal experiments and human violence are shown, along with scenes of compassion, to elicit our instinctive, compassionate responses.
Love and cooperation are key, the filmmaker discovers. Caution: this path gets radical. “Love your enemies,” said Jesus Christ. “Liberate damaged human beings by following the path of love,” said Martin Luther King.
I Am succeeds in rousing our compassion and empathy. That’s quite an achievement.
If you like I Am, you might enjoy: Happy; 2012: Time for Change; Thrive.
Subscribe to Secret Agent Gal Reviews.
I Am 2010 / NR / 1 hour, 16 min
Cast Overview: Tom Shadyac, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Lynne McTaggart, Marc Ian Barasch, Coleman Barks, David Suzuki
Director: Tom Shadyac
Genre: Documentary
Recent Comments