Product Description

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. She is literally plunged into a swirl of chaotic occurrences, while the characters she encounters on this odyssey reveal the deeper, hidden knowledge she doesn?t even realize she has asked for. Like every hero, Amanda is thrown into crisis, questioning the fundamental premises of her life ? that the reality she has believed in about how men are, how relationships with others should be, and how her emotions are affecting her work isn?t reality at all!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #629 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-03-15
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, German, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 108 minutes

Amazon.com
The unlikeliest cult hit of 2004 was What the (Bleep) Do We Know?, a lecture on mysticism and science mixed into a sort-of narrative. Marlee Matlin stars in the dramatic thread, about a sourpuss photographer who begins to question her perceptions. Interviews with quantum physics experts and New Age authors are cut into this story, offering a vaguely convincing (and certainly mind-provoking) theory about... well, actually, it sounds a lot like the Power of Positive Thinking, when you get down to it. Talking heads (not identified until film's end) include JZ Knight, who appears in the movie channeling Ramtha, the ancient sage she claims communicates through her (other speakers are also associated with Knight's organization). What she says actually makes pretty good common sense--Ramtha's wiggier notions are not included--and would be easy to accept were it not being credited to a 35,000-year-old mystic from Atlantis. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews

This is BETTER than science-fiction.
Mind bending, fun and creative in it's presentation to reveal the inner layers of ourselves. The whole concept of the film is plausible, exciting and new territory in our spiritual growth. This is a must see for all who are searching for more depth into their own behavior. Marlee Matlin gives a stellar performance depicting same life scenarios we all encounter in our lives each day. Awesome film, expands your thinking capabilities.

Buyers (and Channeled Spirits) Beware!
Any Amazon buyers who are thinking of purchasing this DVD are strongly encouraged to first go and do some checking on the Internet about this movie and its background. What you find out may or may not surprise you.

I didn't check deeply enough, and regret the money I spent on buying this DVD. I watched only one side of the three double-sided discs (the original theatrical version) and then filed it away under "DVDs to be pawned off at my local record/video shop". I will not watch the other five sides of the discs, and that is something very unusual for me as a regular Amazon buyer.

Don't get me wrong: Marlee Matlin does a decent job of holding up the "drama" side of the film and there is lots of humor, intriguing testimony and amazing graphics in the "documentary" side of "What the Bleep Do We Know!?". But after watching this movie just one time, the word FISHY kept coming up in my mind. I went on the Internet and did some searching, and found out why.

What the filmmakers of "What the Bleep Do We Know!?" do not tell you in the film's trailer and in the film itself is that they, the filmmakers, as well as some of the interviewees, are affiliated with the mega-million-dollar organization founded by JZ Knight, famous for her channeling of a 35,000-year-old spirit named Ramtha. Her organization is based in the rural city of Yelm, Washington state -- the same city where "What the Bleep" was first premiered and where the producers of the film are reported to be based.

What the filmmakers also don't tell you (but which you will find out if you check around on the Internet) is that one of the credible sources in the film has completely denounced "What the Bleep" and the way his interview was misrepresented to promote the film's premise. The filmmakers also will not tell you that there are a number of people (including Knight's late ex-husband) who have left her organization and called it little more than a cult in New Age clothing. This is distressing.

Spirituality is one thing, but deceit is quite another. We all want more spirituality in our lives. But we need to be cautious and selective about this because there are just as many so-called New Age organizations out there that will take our money as quickly as some mainstream Christian churches will.

Which is exactly why I give this film the same low rating of "1" that I gave to the DVD "George W. Bush: Faith in the White House". If there is one thing worse than being conned by a bunch of true-believing, right-wing Christian fundamentalists, it is being duped by a group of true-believing New Agers who align themselves with left-wing causes (see "What the Bleep's" website store for examples). I would give both the Bush and Bleep DVDs a rating of zero if I could.

To be fair, JZ Knight and Ramtha are given only a few cameo appearances in this film. But those appearances are just enough to weave their way into the scientific dialogue and dramatic acting scenes to give Knight, the millionaire spirit-channeler, some much-needed credibility in the movie. Plus, hers is the only "non-expert" interview featured in the film, making you wonder why she's even in this movie in the first place. Again, the filmmakers make no mention whatsoever in the film of their connections to Knight and her organization.

But the good news is that spiritually hungry people everywhere are waking up and smelling the coffee. Using their brains, people are increasingly coming to tell the difference between true, dedicated people of spirit, like the Dalai Lama of Tibet, and fishy facsimiles. Buyers in the New Age marketplace are not the only ones who should beware -- channeled spirits also have to be on guard for the growing numbers of human beings who are thinking more deeply before spending their hard-earned money on movies like this.

If you must buy this DVD, then at least first spend some time on the Internet checking out this film's background. If you decide to buy it after that, well, it is up to you. At least consider yourself a forewarned (and wiser) consumer for having read this.

Enough said. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to shut down my computer and go out for a long, quiet walk in nature -- where I'm more likely to encounter Spirit in its purest form than I would in this film.

New Age Sewage and Pseudoscience
Why one star?

1. The entire logical chain of this film is rendered null by a misunderstanding of the "observer effect" in scientific research. Ask any high school science teacher to explain it to you in simple terms, and you will understand why this movie is nothing more than a farce and fallacy.

2. Masaro Emoto's work does not follow the scientific method.

3. Through clever editing, the producers often twist the words of the authentic scientists featured in the film to support the supernatural claims made in it.

4. The filmmakers are members of a cult religion.