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observed

04/02/04

Quantum spirituality

It's Saturday night at the Bagdad Theater & Pub, and there's a line around the block for . . What's this movie about again?

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"My teacher said [seeing] it was homework," says one young woman. For which class? "Yoga."

A clue! One that prompts another survey of the line, which snakes around the corner for "What the Bleep Do We Know?" -- which turns out to be a semi-documentary about spirituality and quantum physics. Suddenly one realizes this is a wellness-oriented crowd, no matter how many pitchers of beer they'll consume during the next two hours. Half the folks look like they study some sort of bodywork, radiating holistic self-satisfaction; the crowd skews young and cable-sweatered. Some women wear baby tees sporting complicated Hindu-lite emblems that look like they fell off Sobe bottles. Men wear scarves.

Shot in Portland, "What the Bleep" debuted at the Bagdad a few weeks ago. Other than some fleeting press, it's building an audience on word of mouth. The Mission and the McMinnville Moonlight Theater have added screenings -- and, given the packed house at the Bagdad, we've got a sensation on our hands. "I hear people are lining up to see this on weeknights," adds the yoga student.

What they're lining up for is a sort of holistic hand grenade. The film's goal? Nothing less than the grand unification of science and spirituality -- only entertaining! Structurally, it's similar to those McGraw-Hill films they used to show in elementary school: The movie peppers you with insights from talking heads in science and spirituality (none of whom are named until the end, which is probably the only way to listen to someone who refers to herself as "Ramtha" without giggling). Sound bites about quantum physics, biology, reality and God share screen time with an effects-filled story starring Marlee Matlin as a photographer forced to change her perceptions (irony!). The movie opens with footage of Matlin encountering multiple versions of herself in the Bagdad lobby -- which created quite the tittering frisson in the Bagdad audience.

For the most part, it's provocative fun, but nothing Deepak Chopra tapes haven't covered -- assertions about "seeing" in two directions, how we're only looking at "the tip of an immense quantum-mechanical iceberg" and stoner conundrums like "Have you ever thought about what thoughts are made of?" But something extraordinary happens afterward: The credits roll, people applaud, stay in their seats -- and immediately start discussing what they've just seen.

Outside, Jonna and Wilson Lynn declare the film ridiculous -- "It almost seemed like a satire," Wilson says -- while Samuel and Janet Stevenson (reflecting that evening's vast majority) defend it as a joyful celebration of life's deeper, madder mysteries. "I found the connections to science interesting," Janet says.

Still, everyone agrees on one thing: The fact that a movie can spark these kinds of fevered discussions is the best of all possible worlds. -- M.E. Russell Special to The Oregonian

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