“I Am” Review

I’m a bit late to the party in reviewing the documentary “I Am”.

I AM is a 2010 American documentary film written, narrated, and directed by Tom Shadyac(Ace Ventura:Pet Detective). The documentary explores Shadyac’s personal journey after a 2007 bicycle accident, “the nature of humanity” and “world’s ever-growing addiction to materialism.”

Shadyac’s journey after his success in directing was like that of a lot of other Hollywood stars. He want out and bought a Beverly Hills mansion, and cars, etc.

And he found himself to be no happier.

In the film, Shadyac conducts interviews with scientists, religious leaders, environmentalists and philosophers including Desmond Tutu, Noam Chomsky, Lynne McTaggart, Elisabet Sahtouris, David Suzuki, Howard Zinn, and Thom Hartmann. The film asks two central questions: What’s Wrong With the World? and What Can We Do About it?. It is about “human connectedness, happiness, and the human spirit”, and explores themes including Darwinism, Western mores, loneliness, the economy, and the drive to war. The documentary includes animated scenes explaining scientific concepts, as well as clips from the films Wall Street and It’s a Wonderful Life.

One of the things that struck me was when the film showed the covers of various magazines that urged us to “Shop and save America!” or some other such nonsense. Like that is our only purpose in life.

One of the other ideas that came forth was that DNA science has shown that we are related to all other life on earth. We share 90+ percent of our DNA with crickets and bears, and trees. We really are connected to the earth in a way that we can barely understand.

But the powers that be just want us to shop. That is the answer my friends. Go out and spend money. That is what will make you happy.

I Am is worth the watch. It is humorous and eye opening on a few fronts. I felt better after watching it. It gave me some hope that there are people out there that give a shit about how we are treating each other and the planet.

It is available on Netflix.

If you have seen it, please share your thoughts in the comments.
And if you have any other suggestions of like minded documentaries we would all love to now about them as well.

“Live Simply”