“So close – the infinitesimal and the infinite. But suddenly, I knew they were really the two ends of the same concept. The unbelievably small and the unbelievably vast eventually meet, like the closing of a gigantic circle. ... And I felt my body dwindling, melting, becoming nothing. My fears melted away, and in their place came – acceptance. All this vast majesty of creation – it had to mean something. And then I meant something too. Yes, smaller than the smallest, I meant something too. To God, there is no zero. I still exist!”Fans of the “The Incredible Shrinking Man” may remember the preceding as the ending soliloquy from that great film. Along with “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Shrinking Man” is one of the most philosophical films in science fiction history.
Upon seeing “What the #$*! Do We Know?,” I thought of those two movies, as well as “Mindwalk” from 1991.
In reality, though, there has never been a film exactly like “What the #$*! Do We Know?” (commonly referred to as “What the Bleep Do We Know?”). It’s part science class educational film, part new age self help advice, part trippy animation, and there’s even a narrative plot weaving in and out of the whole thing.
It begins with a series of sound bites from several of the people listed below. Ostensibly they are discussing the concept of quantum physics. This ain’t rocket science, folks. No, quantum physics makes rocket science seem like child’s play. Quantum physics – or some part of it – postulates that phenomena are transformed by observation, and an infinite number of possibilities exist. As the interviews continue through the film, the focus shifts to the physiology of the human body and how every cell is a thinking being and our thoughts can affect literally every cell in our bodies, changing our very lives.
One interesting thought that stuck with me in the opening series was the observation that, throughout history, most of what has been accepted as scientific fact has eventually been disproved. The earth is not the center of the universe; the sun doesn’t travel around the Earth and the Earth isn’t flat. And a good bleeding is not really that great a medical treatment. (I threw that one in myself.)
Eventually we segue into the dramatic story. Marlee Matlin plays Amanda, a photographer who is obviously having some sort of an emotional disturbance. She’s depressed, anxious, her marriage has just split up and she’s taking “anxiety pills.” In an early scene Amanda confronts other Amandas walking out of theaters at the multiplex.
She also sees things she believes to be real change completely as she looks through the eye of her camera.
On the way to a wedding shoot (a type of assignment she really hates), she meets a young kid shooting hoops at the park. He asks Amanda to join him, and as she enters the court, it’s clear this is not your average playground. The kid begins to explain quantum theory and how it relates to our individual realities. Amanda, who has been questioning her very existence lately, is asked, “How far down the rabbit hole do you want to go?”
More interviews are woven throughout, and more and more they deal with the spirituality associated with the theories surrounding quantum physics and how we can change the universe through our thoughts.
Many great scientific points are touched upon, and one physicist tries to explain an experiment that is going on now wherein the same bit of matter is existing in two places at once. Another question is posed when it’s mentioned that some sub-atomic particles actually disappear and then reappear on a regular basis. Where do they go? One theory is that when they are gone from here, they are in an alternate universe and when they are here, the folks in THAT universe wonder where they have gone. Got it? I had it, but now it’s gone. Must be in that alternate universe.
At the end of the film, when the scientists and other speakers are introduced, we find that one of the most articulate spokespeople in the film is an American woman named J Z Knight. But speaking through her is Ramtha, “a 35,000-year-old mystic, philosopher, master teacher and hierophant.”
It’s a bizarre film, to say the least, but it poses some interesting questions and explains, in an elementary way, some of the concepts of quantum physics.
Jim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.
