If you have ever wondered about such things as how we as human beings are connected to each other and the universe as a whole, or how we individually create or effect our own realities, then you should not miss the opportunity to see this movie. If you are one of the legions of fans who were captivated by the cult hit "What the Bleep Do We Know?", you will be ecstatic to know that the sequel,"What the Bleep: Down the Rabbit Hole" is currently playing in theaters. To the delight of "Bleep" devotees, this version gives a more detailed treatment to many of the subjects only briefly touched upon in the first movie.
Opening with an entertaining "Guiness Stout commercial-esque" animated sequence on the historical dichotomy between science and religion, the movie goes on to explore how science and spirituality need not be the mortal enemies that generations of us have been led to believe. The "What the Bleep" website says this new release, by filmakers William Arntz, Betsy Chasse and Mark Vicente, "highlights the deepening link between quantum mechanics, neurobiology and human consciousness".
In "Rabbit Hole" Marlee Matlin reprises her role as Amanda as do many of the characters and interviewees from the original film including Jennifer her ditzy (yet arguabley more spiritually evolved) roommate. In this version the scientists really are the stars. New follow up interviews with most if not all of the original authorities, filmed in February of 2004, make up more than half of the original material presented. One discussion focussed on how supposedly randomly generated numbers can be influenced by intention, even apparently backwards in time! New "talking heads" include Dr. Masuro Emoto who explains (through a translator) how the water crystal experiments were done. Author of "The Field" Lynne Taggart and Dr. Dean Radin PhD also weigh in with new information not discussed earlier. The amount and breadth of information presented in the interviews is somewhat mind-numbing. It is likely to take viewers quite sometime to fully process all the information, assuming you remember what was covered!
Several completly new sequences, featuring the animated character Dr. Quantum, were added to explain the more esoteric points of quantum mechanics necessary to the undersatnding of the film as a whole. I found the character its self vaquely disturbing for some reason but the graphic depictions and explanations of the principles of wave-particle duality, quantum entanglement and superpositioning among others were well done and understandable. A more light hearted animated sequence delved into the two dimensional world of the "Dot" and her(?) discovery of the three dimensional universe. The material presented in this sequel becomes intentionally more complex. Like it's predecessor, viewers will benefit from repeated viewing of the movie in order to fully appreciate and absorb all the information presented.
As much as half the movie is comprised of footage that has been recycled from the original film. While much of the the movie will seem redundant if you have seen the first one, doing so allows this film to "standalone" permitting the first time viewer to understand the essential concepts, characters and storyline. According to filmmaker Mark Vicente, this was done in part as a response to requests by parents and educators to have a version of "What the Bleep?" that wuld be suitable for viewing by younger audiences. While some of the younger generation may be critical of the computer graphics generated quality of the Dr. Quantam character, the explanations he provides do a credible job of explaining arcane concepts to the lay audience.
From a strictly business standpoint, reusing earlier footage obviously also shortened the production cycle for this version down to a year, rather than the more than three years it took to complete the first movie. This allowed "Rabbit Hole" to be commercially available much more quickly permitting the filmmakers to capitalize on the momentum created by the original movie and the "What the Bleep" book subsequently released.
It also gives the worldwide audience of we Bleepophiles our Bleep fix sooner rather than later. How far down the rabbit hole do you want to go...? This movie is not currently playing on Long Island though plans are currently underway to bring the film here. Send us an email at RabbitHole@thirdmill.com to let us know if you would attend a local showing including your zipcode so we can better plan the appropriate sized venues.