Movie Review: ‘I Am’

Take one part documentary, one part introspective analysis, a dash of quantum physics, a sprinkle of poetry, and a dollop of New Age explorative thought—then bake for 76 minutes. The result is a provocatively savory film about life, the world, and how each one of us constitutes and thereby can contribute to the greater whole that is our civilization.

The film begins with an introduction to Tom Shadyac, by none other than Tom Shadyac. Who is Tom? A highly successful comedy director of Ace Ventura: The Pet Detective, The Nutty Professor, and Bruce Almighty. His latest film, I Am, is an autobiography of sorts, as he writes, directs, and narrates his rise and poetic fall within Hollywood’s social elite and his quest for meaning amid suffering.

In 2007, Tom experienced a hard fall while mountain biking and suffered near fatal wounds, including concussion with symptoms that lasted for months. He went through the gauntlet of medical therapies, including alternatives, to no avail.

Finally he looked inward and discovered an opportunity amid the heartache. Tom wrote on his blog, “Simply put, the accident knocked me from my head to my heart, and gave me the courage to speak publicly about the principles that had inhabited me, and changed me, over the course of a decade.”

Tom came to realize that despite his success at winning the societal game, he was never truly fulfilled. The accident served as his wake-up call. At this point, he questioned how our society came to believe that the things he achieved were important.

The film asks, “What’s wrong with the world, and what can we do about it?” In an effort to find the answers, Tom embarked on a journey toward self-realization and education. I Am captures this experience, and challenges our preconceptions and current notions about what it means to be “human.”

The true beauty of I Am is in its relationship to the audience, for it is unabashedly human and provides scientific arguments for why we are all connected. Rather than talk from a purely theoretical or spiritual podium, Shadyac interviews experts in different fields and splices their answers into a cohesive and rational dialogue that leads the viewers to experience one eye-opening moment after another.

Notable figures include Bishop Desmond Tutu, Howard Zinn, and Noam Chomsky in addition to well-known scientists, authors, poets, free thinkers, and psychologists. The film is interwoven with quotes from Einstein, the Dalai Lama, and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

I Am argues that love is the universal force that binds us. It is in our DNA. It is not on an idealistic level—rather, it is a material substance that can be found within our bodies and in the DNA of all living creatures. We share DNA with the other life forms on this planet and are interconnected with them.

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