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'What the Bleep!? Down the Rabbit Hole'
Michael Atkinson
Tuesday, January 24th 2006
Essentially a repackaged, extended director's cut of 2004's minor specialty hit What the Bleep Do We Know!?, this two-hour semi-doc is a living demonstration of the Heisenberg principle —because audiences came and observed, the thing itself evolved. If we're not careful, it may never stop. For those heretofore unbleeped, the movie is a sloppy amalgamation of animated instruction, dramatic vignettes (starring actualization-starved single gal Marlee Matlin), and talking-heads interviews, all of it a bum-rush lesson in how 40 years of quantum theory (clearly illustrated, I thought) and biophysics have come to confirm the essential ideas of Buddhism and spiritual self-determination. The methods the filmmakers use are childish—and therefore, probably palatable to high schoolers—but the science on the table is fascinating enough to give you pause, and perhaps even steer you toward further reading and a renewed interest in taking meditation seriously. Nobody mentions the ancient Asians, but isn't controlling your environment by way of "intention" and "spiritual" training where all of that martial arts came from? Nothing new is shopped here, but Bleep was and is meant as a bouncy introduction for religion-conflicted boomers, and unlike most theatrical sludge it won't make you feel stupid. PBS should come calling.
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