What The Bleep Do We Know Film Review
Directors: William Arntz, Betsy Chasse and Mark Vicente.
Cast: Marlee Martin, Elaine Hendrix and John Ross Bowie.
Here is Yellow Magpie’s What The Bleep Do We Know film review.
Back in 2004 a small, low-key film barely raised a ripple of interest upon its release. Despite having a paltry budget, What The Bleep Do We Know? grossed over ten million in the American Box Office. Although this figure is insignificant in comparison to the Hollywood blockbusters, the message of the film was to carry much more weight.
‘There are some questionable references in the film’
What The Bleep Do We Know? has been dogged by criticism from some members of the scientific community. Some of the criticism, on the whole, seems to be quite unmitigated whilst other aspects are completely justified.
There are some questionable references in the film but its overall message that we know very little about the nature of reality and its introduction to the mysterious world of quantum mechanics is very positive and welcoming.
Very rarely does a film make you feel good about yourself and the world that you inhabit. What The Bleep just happens to be one of those films.
The film is divided up into two connected parts. One is a fictional world in which an unnamed woman is out of sorts with her self. She finds it a harsh and cruel place that seems to be beating her down. We see the woman going through her everyday routine in a morose way, not enjoying her work as photographer.
‘In the end she is completely transformed by simply changing her mindset.’
Through a series of apparently random happenings, she encounters various people who begin to help her to change her mind about her life and how she sees it. We follow her as she undertakes a remarkable journey of self-discovery. In the end she is completely transformed by simply changing her mindset. And where before she was sad and depressed she is now joyful and positive.
The other part of the film is told in documentary style with a series of speakers explaining what they have learnt about the mysterious world that we inhabit.
One of the most startling aspects of the film is how it makes the mind-boggling world of quantum physics accessible to the non-scientific community through the use of examples and animations. It illustrates concepts that would look out of place in sci-fi films with remarkable clarity and ease of understanding.
‘they are, as best we know, not relevant to our everyday lives.’
However, it also does a great disservice by failing to stress that while this changes occur on the smallest scales imaginable, they are, as best we know, not relevant to our everyday lives.
What The Bleep represents a world of infinite possibilities, one which should be continually reaccessed again and again.
Like a lot of things that are strange and challenging, What The Bleep does tax the brain by introducing difficult concepts. Concepts which are impossible for any person to understand completely. At times the film muddles the viewer with complexities. Some of the speakers uses phrases that demand further explanation while one or two statements are completely nonsensical.
‘while one or two statements are completely nonsensical’
What the Bleep is quite an interesting film in that it tries to explain how our mind controls the world we experience. However, it does that in a very complicated way. In the end, what the film is trying to do is show how what we think influences our experiences.
Throughout the film a number of experts talk about quantum physics and the holographic universe. This is interspersed with animations of how thoughts create neuro-pathways in the brain. Furthermore, the film demonstrates how thought-patterns strengthen or weaken those pathways. This aspect of the film is on very shaky ground, scientifically-speaking, and should be taken with several handfuls of salt.
To give a more human aspect to the film we see a woman who is obviously going through a bad time and seems unhappy in her job and anoyed with her flatmate who is bubbly and unconventional. We see the woman going through her everyday routine in a morose way, not enjoying her work as photographer.
The ultimate message of the film is one of expansion of the mind to accept and believe that we create our own reality through perspective. We also create unnecessary boundaries for ourselves limiting our potential in the process.
What the Bleep is insightful and you will learn from watching it, but could it not have been told in a simpler way? Does the message get lost in a myriad of science and convoluted explanation? The answer to those questions is a resounding yes.
‘Or they are simply being deliberately confusing.’
For example, when you hear one of the contributors, whose track record is less than exemplary, come out with a sentence such as ‘What I thought was unreal, now for me… seems in some ways to be more real than what I think to be real… which seems now more to be unreal‘, you realise that these people have forgotten that they are talking to the uninitiated and may be hearing this for the first time. Or they are simply being deliberately confusing.
‘Instead of being likeable he came across as irritatingly precocious.’
You could just hear the sound of the remotes being switched off. Then there was the schmaltz-like ten or eleven year old basketball player who is depicted as a wise old owl coming out with all sorts of sage advise. Instead of being likeable he came across as irritatingly precocious.
What the Bleep was made before the phenomenon that was The Secret which has much the same message. However, while The Secret was seductive and sexy, and so appealed to a much wider audience, it lacked the depth of knowledge that is portrayed in What The Bleep.
‘Having said that, this could be the problem.’
The people in What the Bleep are not some airy fairy just-think-of-it-and-it-will-happen school of fluff. Some of them actually appear to know what they are talking about, they have studied the brain and how it works and they have come from the fields of philosophy, science, physics and medicine.
Having said that, this could be the problem. These people have been studying these subject for so long that they have lost the common touch and don’t seem to be able or indeed have the inclination to explain their beliefs in a simple fashion.
‘It is possible, and highly dangerous, to believe in such fallacies.’
One aspect that does deserve important intention is the philosophical implications of the belief that you are solely a product of what you think. It is possible, and highly dangerous, to believe in such fallacies. This is just a half-step away from maintaining that because people are poor or ill they deserve to be as it is their thoughts that are responsible.
This ludicrous and malevolent assumption is a particularly nasty method of ensuring and justifying social inequality. Likewise, a positive attitude should never be a substitute for allopathic medicine.
Leaving all that aside, What The Bleep is well worth watching. If we could learn to take its fundamental message to heart, maybe we too, like the heroine of the story, could transform our own lives by expanding our horizons and capitalising on our potential. If you take this from the film – it could be a life-changing experience.
However, if you want a scientific understanding of quantum mechanics – you need to search elsewhere.
Highly Recommended Get The Film Through Amazon
You can obtain What The Bleep Do We Know here from Amazon.
Amazon.co.uk
For people living in Ireland or the United Kingdom you can access What The Bleep Do We Know here.
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For those living in Canada you can obtain What The Bleep Do We Know from here.
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For Germany: What The Bleep Do We Know.
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For France: What The Bleep Do We Know.
