May 6, 2004

A '$#*!' of a movie returns

The film starts out with the notion that there are infinite possibilities, of which, you are one, making clear this movie is more than entertainment.

But "What the Bleep Do We Know?" is entertainment nonetheless. The film - which opens at the Varsity Theatre in Ashland Friday - has been shown here before as part of the Ashland Independent Film Festival, where it won the Best Documentary Award.

"I wanted it to be a theatrical film people would go to on a Friday or Saturday night," said Will Arntz, one of the people who wrote, produced and directed the movie.

Arntz graduated summa cum laude in 1972 from Penn State University with a degree in Engineering Science and accepted employment as a Research Physicist. He has developed software programs and made films.

"I financed the whole thing," Arntz said. "No one in their right mind would finance a film like this." But the team realized that there needed to be films out there for people who are searching.

Judging from screenings so far, Arntz is having his wish come true. During its six-week run in Portland, 30,000 people saw the film. And people who like it generally go back to see it again.

"I think it's time for these kinds of films to be available Friday nights," echoed Betsy Chase, another member of the creative team.

Chase had been a Hollywood actor and film producer, when she decided to leave film altogether. "I read the concept and it stunned me," she recalled. "I didn't think I was a spiritual person. I thought I was a very one-dimensional person. It changed my life. If it could do this to me, imagine what it could do to others."

What the team discovered as they continued reworking through 10 versions of the script, 20 major edits and 60 hours of interviews, was a simple lesson contained in quantum physics. You actually have control over your destiny.

"It really is that simple," Chase observed. "Your thoughts create your reality. You don't need to be a physicist to get that. If you take it on and live it, things happen."

The group decided to blend science, spirit, and film techniques: documentary, animation, visual effects, music and a story line featuring actor Marlee Matlin.

Team member Mark Vicente directed the photography. He had been director of photography and cinematographer on a number of feature films, and directed commercials and documentaries.

"The brain becomes very plastic with laughter and shock," Vicente explained. The team decided their film would be humorous and even over the top in some places. That way, he said, people become more open to hearing more information and tend not to reject the new concepts being presented.

"We realized we had to remove all the speed bumps," Arntz said. "Once they backed out of the film, it's hard to get them back. It's like composing music ˜ you kind of know when It's getting tenuous."

Even though most of the people Arntz and his team interviewed were Ph.D. scientists, there was always the danger of making a boring documentary. Or when the subject matter got weird, it could start to sound flaky. But people didn't turn off.

"People say there was always this inkling that this information was out there, but we didn't know how to get it," Chase said. But the information was often incomprehensible, overwhelming. Chase found that the film made people feel like they could actually comprehend it. In the midst of living in fear, they found it hopeful.

Chase is quick to point out that she and her colleagues did not make the film to enlighten people. That's why they love the film's title. They did it to tell people what they learned, what it did for them and hope that audiences get something from it and talk about it.

"We're really not New Age love, light, gushing warm and wonderful," Vicente said. He sees the film as a call to people to open up, and a call to artists to touch people's souls. Because so much is at stake, the art has to be good. It has to be brilliant. "People are so attached to being victims, that we need a tyrant," Vicente said. "Someone who says, I know how to enslave people, keep them enslaved and make money off of them. We're attached to a story about ourselves as helpless beings."

To counter this, Vicente feels that spiritual people need to be strong instead of always trying to be nice, loving etc. They need to stand up ˜ be hated even for their beliefs. "What We're saying is look at yourself, laugh at yourself, embrace yourself. Here's information that can help you."

The creative team of Arntz, Chase and Vicente has been accompanying their film to film festivals and openings. Arntz and Vicente came to the Ashland Independent Film Festival and held question and answer sessions after the showing.

"Cops, robbers, boy meets girl, man kills man, is boring at best and harmful at worst ˜ and we, the filmmakers, think a lot of people are ready for something different," the group said in the Ashland Independent Film Festival brochure. By Richard Moeschl

Ashland Daily Tidings