RE: Movie: WHAT THE BLEEP DO WE KNOW!?

[Colin Hales]

Hi Folks,
A bit tardy..catching up...

An early cut debut of this film was played at the quantum mind
conference in March 2003. I saw it

Came away feeling like someone was lecturing me about a quantum
mechanical religion/cult. I don't know how the official version was, but
we were all asked to fill out questionaires... It may have altered the
edit. It's supposed to get QM to the common folk, but it looked no
different to any culty thing - very emotively and manipulative... Just
another form of brand equity doing its dance.

Merry xmas or whatever to all everythingers... :) colin


> -Original Message-
> From: Giu1i0 Pri5c0 [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
> Sent: Friday, 26 November 2004 12:34 AM
> To: ExI chat list; World Transhumanist Association Discussion 
> List; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Movie: WHAT THE BLEEP DO WE KNOW!?
> 
> 
> Has anyone seen this movie? Looks interesting - 
> santatcruztoday.com: This sure-to-be cult favorite is a 
> hybrid of documentary and melodrama, combining a story about 
> an unhappy, divorced photographer (Marlee Matlin) wandering 
> the streets of Portland, Ore., with highly abstract 
> theoretical constructs about the nature of God and "the 
> wacky, weird world of quantum physics." The movie has a 
> website (http://www.whatthebleep.com/): WHAT THE BLEEP DO WE 
> KNOW?! is a new type of film. It is part documentary, part 
> story, and part elaborate and inspiring visual effects and 
> animations. The protagonist, Amanda, played by Marlee Matlin, 
> finds herself in a fantastic Alice in Wonderland experience 
> when her daily, uninspired life literally begins to unravel, 
> revealing the uncertain world of the quantum field hidden 
> behind what we consider to be our normal, waking reality... 
> The fourteen top scientists and mystics interviewed in 
> documentary style serve as a modern day Greek Chorus. In an 
> artful filmic dance, their ideas are woven together as a 
> tapestry of truth. The thoughts and words of one member of 
> the chorus blend into those of the next, adding further 
> emphasis to the film's underlying concept of the 
> interconnectedness of all things. http://www.whatthebleep.com/
> 
> 

Re: Movie: WHAT THE BLEEP DO WE KNOW!?

[uak]

There is an important article in Salon 

about it (reproduced below.) 

"Bleep" of faith
An indie film gets buzz and a big rollout. But "What the Bleep Do We Know!?"
uses questionable on-screen experts - and appears to be an infomercial for a
controversial New Age sect.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By John Gorenfeld
Sept. 16, 2004 | Last week, the national release of the independent film "What
the Bleep Do We Know!?" seemed to be just the latest success story in the Year
of the Documentary -- a little movie that could, launched into 60 theaters
across the country by Samuel Goldwyn Films after selling out small theaters for
months. The film's co-director, William Arntz, has called it "a film for the
religious left," an answer to "The Passion of the Christ." It presents itself
as the thinking rebel's alternative to Hollywood pabulum: a heady stew of drama
and documentary, starring Oscar-winning actress Marlee Matlin as a Xanax-addled
photographer who discovers joy when she learns that quantum mechanics makes
spiritual wonders possible.
But the film -- buoyed by a slew of stories in regional and national outlets
(including Salon) about its supposed grassroots success -- has largely avoided
much skepticism. And as the distributors launched a national advertising
campaign, on NPR's "All Things Considered" among other outlets, and earned
respectable reviews from a number of critics (the San Francisco Examiner calls
it a "smart film," and Roger Ebert, while not thrilled, gave it a thoughtful
two and a half stars), their movie has managed to avoid much scrutiny of what,
exactly, it's really about -- and who is behind it.
That has meant little attention has been given to either the film's agenda, or
its questionable use of supposed experts. At least one scientist prominently
interviewed in the film now says his words were taken out of context. And two
other key subjects in the film are not fully identified: a theologian who, the
film fails to divulge, is a former priest who left the Catholic Church after
allegations of sexual abuse; and a mysterious woman identified only as Judy
"JZ" Knight, who is actually a sect leader claiming to channel a
35,000-year-old warrior spirit named Ramtha. The film's three co-directors are
among those who follow Ramtha and look to Knight's channeled maxims to decipher
the mysteries of life. These Ramtha followers reportedly number in the
thousands. But critics call the sect a cult.

In the movie, the 58-year-old Knight, whose accent is as thick as her mascara,
makes the boldest statements -- pronounced with long, rolling R's -- about
particles and God. "We have grrreat technology. But we still have this ugly,
superrrstitious, backwahds cohncept of Gahd," she says, adding that "the height
of arrogance is the belief of those who would see Gahd in their own image."
Musing on the unity of consciousness and matter, she reminds us that "it only
takes a fantasy for a man to have a harrrd-on." In her normal mode, Knight
speaks the plain talk of her native Roswell, N.M., but in the manly presence of
Ramtha, said to have conquered the continent neighboring Atlantis, Knight's jaw
juts and her voice deepens into something magisterial and brash (view her
here). Her Ramtha's School of Enlightenment, on a $2 million compound based in
Yelm, Wash., boasts followers -- including celebrities like actress Shirley
MacLaine (who attended Knight's seminars in the late '80s) and "Dynasty" star
Linda Evans -- willing to pay up to $1,600 for a seminar.
Reached by Salon, Meyer Gottlieb, president of Samuel Goldwyn Films, says he's
seen "Bleep" about eight times. Its fledgling distribution company Roadside
Attractions had its first real hit earlier this year when it launched festival
favorite documentary "Super Size Me" and is hoping for a similar sleeper hit
with " Bleep." Asked what he thought of the expressed desire by filmmaker Mark
Vicente (on a Ramtha Web site, BeyondTheOrdinary.net) for his viewers to emerge
from his movie in an "almost trance-like state," Gottlieb only laughed.
"The question is, Is this movie promoting a cult?" he said. "The only thing
we're interested in from a marketing perspective is creating a cult status for
the film ... cults, from my perspective, they deal with groups and leaders and
that stuff. This movie is about individual thinking. Individual control over
your future -- and your own reality."
But not everyone involved in the movie has good things to say about that
message.
David Albert, a professor at the Columbia University physics department, has
accused the filmmakers of warping his ideas to fit a spiritual agenda. "I don't
think it's quite right to say I was 'tricked' into appearing," he said in a
statement reposted by a critic on "What the Bleep's" Internet forum, "but it is
certainly the case that I was edited in such a way as to completely suppress my
actual views about the matters the movie discusses. I am

Re: Movie: WHAT THE BLEEP DO WE KNOW!?

[Pete Carlton]

Oh dear.  I made the mistake of seeing the movie several months ago 
knowing it was going to be malarkey, but going for the entertainment 
value anyway. Suffice it to say it wasn't even redeeming for that 
aspect.
It may influence your decision to see it, or not, to know that the 
movie was funded and produced by three Ramtha (www.ramtha.com) devotees 
and promulgates Ramtha's philosophy.
Some of the idea were pretty out there (thought can control water; our 
bodies are mostly water; therefore, thought can control our bodies.  
Wait- thought can control water??) and some were not.  Actually it 
reminds me of a certain email list..=)

On Nov 25, 2004, at 7:24 AM, Stephen Paul King wrote:
   I have not had a chance to see this movie but a good friend of mine 
has and he HIGHLY recommends it. I will have to wait until it is 
released as a DVD.

Stephen

Re: Movie: WHAT THE BLEEP DO WE KNOW!?

[Stephen Paul King]

   I have not had a chance to see this movie but a good friend of mine has 
and he HIGHLY recommends it. I will have to wait until it is released as a 
DVD.

Stephen
- Original Message - 
From: "Giu1i0 Pri5c0" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "ExI chat list" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "World Transhumanist 
Association Discussion List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; 
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, November 25, 2004 8:33 AM
Subject: Movie: WHAT THE BLEEP DO WE KNOW!?


Has anyone seen this movie? Looks interesting - santatcruztoday.com:
This sure-to-be cult favorite is a hybrid of documentary and
melodrama, combining a story about an unhappy, divorced photographer
(Marlee Matlin) wandering the streets of Portland, Ore., with highly
abstract theoretical constructs about the nature of God and "the
wacky, weird world of quantum physics."
The movie has a website (http://www.whatthebleep.com/): WHAT THE BLEEP
DO WE KNOW?! is a new type of film. It is part documentary, part
story, and part elaborate and inspiring visual effects and animations.
The protagonist, Amanda, played by Marlee Matlin, finds herself in a
fantastic Alice in Wonderland experience when her daily, uninspired
life literally begins to unravel, revealing the uncertain world of the
quantum field hidden behind what we consider to be our normal, waking
reality... The fourteen top scientists and mystics interviewed in
documentary style serve as a modern day Greek Chorus. In an artful
filmic dance, their ideas are woven together as a tapestry of truth.
The thoughts and words of one member of the chorus blend into those of
the next, adding further emphasis to the film's underlying concept of
the interconnectedness of all things.
http://www.whatthebleep.com/