Science & spirituality
Local retreat to explore these topics through showing of 'What the Bleep' film

BY ALYCE LAGASSE, SPECIAL TO THE STAR-BANNER

Ready to shake, rattle and roll your world? Check out "What The #$*! Do We Know!?" - a wildly popular art-house film that examines spirituality and quantum physics. Don't let the quantum physics scare you away. "What The Bleep Do We Know!?" (Bleep has replaced the implied expletive) is a hybrid documentary/interview/fictional flick with animation as outrageous as a cosmic video game.

"What The Bleep" has yet to be picked up by mainstream theaters, but the Rev. Bill Dodd, the pastor at Unity of Ocala, has seen the movie three times. After trying unsuccessfully to convince local theaters to show it, Dodd decided to sponsor a two-day retreat the first weekend in April. Centered on the showings of "What The Bleep" and another film, "Messages from Water," the retreat will feature discussions on the movies and explore their significant impact on spirituality.

"What The Bleep," which incorporates Emoto's pioneering work, has been a triumph. In the beginning, it was a fringe film, shown in art-house movie theaters in the Northwest. Now, it has taken the film world by the short strings. It seems everyone wants the answers to questions posed in the film . . .. mainly having to do with mankind's place in the universe . . . "What is it? Where do we fit in? And, why do we do what we do?"

Filmed in Portland Oregon, "What The Bleep" premiered at the Baghdad Theater where the opening scene takes place. News of the film spread like an interstellar stream of light as soon as it opened. E-mails flew . . . "Go see What The Bleep, It will blow you away."

The heroine of the film, Marlee Maitlin, ("Children of a Lesser God") stars in the thread of fiction woven into the film. As Amanda, she is caught in a quagmire of questioning reality - in her life and in relationship to others. Fourteen scientists, who flesh out the underlying concepts of God, the self, and the interconnectedness of all things, provide discourses on spirituality and its relationship to quantum physics.

Dodd explained his plans for the retreat. "Primarily, my objective is to show the relationship of spirituality and science. "What The Bleep" uncovers this connection between the spiritual world and quantum physics. I want to explore our human side . . . that the body, mind and spirit are all interconnected."

Not long after its premier, "What The Bleep" copped all awards at the Ashland Film Festival in southern Oregon. The then unknown movie, previewed in the smallest room at the theater. What the organizers of the film fest didn't realize was how wildly the word had spread from Portland. Every showing was sold-out; petitions were circulated requesting that the film be held over.

"What the Bleep" and one of its three creators, Mark Vicente, addressed the audience. Tall, thin and sporting tortoise shell glasses, Vicente has a wry humor; you get the feeling that he is a lot older than he is - think lives, not years. The youngest of the filmmakers, Vicente spoke to hundreds of Birkenstocked, New Age, intellectual, and left of center, Oregonians. Still spinning from the unconceivable reception that "What The Bleep" was getting, Mark fielded questions about quantum physics, the making of the film, and how it got its name.

As the film evolved, the makers had not yet named it. They soon realized that the concepts they set out to explain, were baffling even to them. "One day we just looked at each and said, "What The #$*! Do We Know!?" And, that's how it got its name.]

That was spring, 2004. Jump ahead 12 months. "What The Bleep" has had hundreds of theater engagements, grossed more than $10 million box-office dollars and is playing worldwide.

What is the secret for its success? Are people finally ready to examine some basic precepts of existence? Dodd certainly thinks so.

"What The Bleep" is quirky, irreverent and powerful; some viewers may find themselves stuck in the dark without hope of finding a light. At the very least, the movie will leave you wondering. Its fresh fodder for the brain and under the tutelage of Bill Dodd, the ensuing discussions should be as lively and stimulating as the movie.