Title: What the Bleep!? Down the Rabbit Hole
Genre: Documentary/Drama
Cast: Marlee Matlin, Elaine Hendrix, …
Director: William Arntz, Betsy Chasse, Mark Vicente
Release: (2006)
Apparently this movie is a sequel, though since I had no idea of that until after I rented it I cannot account for any connections there may be between 2004’s What the Bleep!? and this, 2006’s What the Bleep!? Down the Rabbit Hole. What I can tell you is that you don’t need to have seen the first film to not understand this one. Well, at least parts of it.
What the Bleep!? Down the Rabbit Hole opens with a mildly Python-esque scrapbook animation short to catch the viewer up on a Cliffs Notes version of a Cliffs Notes of a Cliffs Note’s version of the historical ties between religion and science. Once up to speed, the film takes viewers along through a mishmash of documentary-style interviews and original animations all semi-woven together by the fictional life of a tortured photographer named Amanda, played likably by Marlee Matlin. The crux of the film, ultimately, is to create a palatable message about the potentiality for common ground between science and spirituality.
Support for this message comes primarily in the form of interviews with medical doctors, research scientists and new age gurus about ways the mind, body and environment have been documented to interact and shape each other in various ways. As someone who is generally skeptical about anything weirdos say, I have to admit that some of the points and ideas were very interesting to consider. Of course, there is plenty to take with a grain of salt, as well. Like the fact that one of the professors recurring in the interviews on physics and theory is identified merely as being on the faculty of “Life University”, which might be fine if I didn’t happen to know that that is a chiropractic college. Or, like the fact that one of the more renowned physicists featured in the film widely renounced the final product, claiming the directors took extensive liberties in editing his interviews to make him appear to be making claims he never meant to. Or that the three directors of the film are alleged to be long time students of JZ Knight’s Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment. Or that JZ Knight is prominently featured among the interviewees throughout the film. Or that JZ Knight claims to be the spiritual medium of a 35,000 year old warrior named Ramtha, who led an army of two and a half million Lemurians to victory over the Atlantians and then on to conquer most of the rest of the world. Or that JZ Knight is a multi-millionaire several times over and lives in a French-style mansion thanks to the fact that part of the enlightenment that Ramtha granted her was to remember to copyright his name and retain all merchandising rights.
Ultimately, what this movie really reminded me of was a slightly more grown-up version of Donald in Mathmagic Land. Don’t take it overly serious, don’t dismiss it all out of hand and you’ll likely be able to take something away from it you’ll remember. Even if it’s just that Marlee Matlin might actually be getting better looking with age. Maybe there’s something to this hoodoo-voodoo after all …
Grading
Story: ?!
Acting: B
Visuals: A
Originality/Innovation: A
Enjoyability: B
Overall: B+
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