What The Bleep!? / Down The Rabbit Hole

What The Bleep!? / Down The Rabbit Hole - The Quantum Edition is a pretty darn good movie. But you must be sure to see The Quantum Edition. The first version of this movie, the story without the science, is rather lame. The Quantum Edition, on the other hand, is a masterpiece, and I strongly urge everyone with a frontal lobe to go see it as soon as possible.

Be warned, however. This is not a spectator event. You must be awake, and ready to think. Remember thinking? That's what you used to do when you were a kid, and the world was full of mystery and wonder, before you "grew up", and figured out just enough about the world to settle into a nice comfortable complacent routine.

You will need to be thoroughly prepared for this movie. Turn off the phone. You don't want any distractions. It's a long movie, and there are parts you'll want to rewind and see again, and parts you will want to skip over. You should make a big bowl of popcorn; two would be better. Make sure your remote control has good batteries. Most importantly, prepare your mind. Be ready to think outside the box. Be ready to entertain some staggering concepts. Bring your imagination. And bring your doubt. Be critical. Don't believe everything you hear.

Here's the premise: A deaf photographer suffering from depression learns over the course of the movie how to use the power of her thoughts to heal herself, and the entire process is examined and explained through the weird and wacky mechanics of quantum physics. The story line is interspersed by interviews with some well accredited scientists, and some not so well accredited self appointed gurus. (That's when you will need the fast forward button.)

What is quantum physics, you ask? Quantum physics is a system of rules, laws, ideas and theories that try to make sense of the world of the very small. The very, very small. Pieces of pieces of atoms. It is a world in which the laws governing "classical" physics don't work any more. It is a world where objects exist in two (or more) places at once. Where things move backwards and forwards in time. And where all things are connected to each other. As the title suggests, to journey into the world of quantum physics is to follow Alice down the rabbit hole.

The good news is that if you pay attention to the scientists in this movie, you will learn some very important things, such as the concept of entanglement. You will hear about experimental evidence that on the most fundamental levels of the smallest of the small, everything is connected (entangled), no matter how far apart they are in space and/or time. My quarks are connected to your quarks, whether you like it or not. You will also hear about some experiments confirming the extraordinary power of human thought.

The bad news is that the movie tends to occasionally stray away from the science into the realm of mystical broo-ha-ha. The worst of this is propagated by a woman called Ramtha, who pontificates endlessly in a very condescending, smug manner, telling you how you should live your life. My advice is to immediately hit the fast forward button every time you see her florid, self righteous countenance loom onto the screen. You will also need to fast forward through some of the cheesier animations (although others are extremely well done).

Ramtha has made millions by pretending to "channel" the spirit of a warrior who lived 30,000 years ago in a suburb of Atlantis. She charges people $1,000 a head to come and hear her tell them how to live. Not that there's anything wrong with that. There's nothing particularly harmful in the advice she so generously imparts on her rapt followers. It's just that there's nothing particularly profound about it either, and she is a discredit to the integrity of the film.

The bottom line is that this movie will make you think. It will make you think about your connection with the Universe, and your concept of time, and the power of the human mind. And in this day and age when it seems even instant gratification just isn't fast enough, that's a very good thing.

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