What the Bleep!?: Down the Rabbit Hole (2006) Reviews

• A film of profound dishonesty

  dj-2182006-02-15

  This film starts out with a mix of things, animations, a deaf woman going about her life, talking heads talking physics. It all seems like a nice dance around quantum physics principles, addressing some of the messy edges that are either hard to understand or not yet understood. However at some critical point the film switches to complete a BS description of ice crystal growth influenced by meditators, followed by an equally BS descriptions of electronic random sources being influenced by meditators. This is thoroughly debunked non science and has no place being represented as truth. The film then descends into a morass of nonsense, attempting to link every facet of pseudoscience BS back to the quantum physical principles discussed earlier. The density of real physicist talking heads drops off and the density of loony fringe talking heads increases. The remainder of the film is painful to watch. Seeing a crowd of gullible idiots lap it up as truth did not inspire my confidence in humanity. Someone ditz even clapped at the end. The bad stuff consumes the larger part of the film and it feels way too long. One amusing twist was seeing the scenes in the Bagdad Theatre in Portland, since I was watching it in the Bagdad Theatre in Portland. This film should come with a health warning. If you want to watch it, see the film up until the ice crystals then leave, unless you're in the Bagdad Theatre in Portland, where you might want to wait until the bit where she goes into said theatre.

• science or sectarian mumbo jumbo? let me decide.

  brendannewitt2006-02-03

  This so-called documentary is based om the teachings of a woman channeling the spirit of an Atlantis-god-warrior called Ramtha, just like the last one. The so-called 'scientists' come from impressing quantum-physics institutions like the swami-Ami-university-of-love-harmony-and-making-it-up-as-you-go-along and the likes, or just Ramtha-sect followers.(the one scientist that was in the last film screamed bloody murder when he saw the finished product and in what way they manipulated his four hours of interview) The funding of the film too is taken care of by the Ramtha sect. This does not make this a bad film per sé. It is shot wonderfully, and it asks some fun questions, and of course the followers of Ramtha-the god-warrior should be free to voice their opinions in whatever way thay see fit. It would just be more gentlemanly of them to state their religious point of view at the start of the movie, as I have met many people who believe that the film depicts a scientific viewpoint and convince others in their new found enthusiasm that the most interesting characteristic of quantum dynamics is that quantum-particles have a power to grant wishes for all happy suburbanites, if you only believe ! It wasn't boring at all, but it was damn annoying afterwards listening to the goateed morons I watched it with, who felt not only empowered and enlightened, but smug too, now that their always smouldering new-age-Oprah belief in their own uniqueness and soul has a pseudo-scientific base...

• Feel-good movie for believers

  celestia632006-08-16

  Although it claimed a great deal more than should be accepted by any reasonably thinking person, I quite liked the first BLEEP movie. It was refreshing and offered an interesting view on reality that was presented in an entertaining way. Alas, I can't say the same is true for the sequel: it further builds on the concepts that were already outlined in #1, which brings us well within the realm where fairy tales and other fantasies dwell. As such I would have given it another star or two, *but* for the effort that has gone into convincing the viewer that it is actually *we* who are living in a fantasy instead. The 'proof' for this relies on extrapolations of solid scientific facts far beyond the borders where they can be applied with any degree of dignity, quasi-scientific claims for which no support is presented whatsoever, and self-important statements by expert with impressive but meaningless CV's. This is done in such a chaotic manner that the only entanglement that results will be your own trying to make a coherent picture of it all. All-in-all this sequel left me feeling only lectured, not entertained. But if you're already into this kind of stuff I suppose I could recommend it: chances are you will feel pretty good about yourself after-wards.

• Bad mix of pseudo-science and pseudo-religion

  tragicdragon2007-01-10

  There is an amusing little tale in Flavius Josephus' "Against Apion" about an ancient Egyptian superstition. A Jew is traveling with some Egyptians who suddenly stand still upon the sight of a particular bird descending on a tree. Their belief demands that they stand still as long as the bird remains perched on the tree branch. The bird is supposed to be able to foresee the future. Then the Jew shoots the bird and says: "If this bird can foresee the future, why did it come here, for then it must have known I was going to kill it." I get the same feeling from this film. I generally take an optimistic view and when something appears to be less than positive, go out of my way to find something good in it. So how come I think this film is about the worst example of pseudo-science and pseudo-religion; degrading, misrepresenting and insulting both science and religion if my thoughts influence my perception and reality? The entire film is going nowhere. The opening animation suggests a parody on new age attempts to fuse science and religion in a rather unwholesome way. Then it switches to documentary style. Very soon it becomes clear that the science presented is anything but groundbreaking. The double slit experiment is hardly new. Concepts of science are thrown around without explaining them. I'm not a scientist so I do not know what a Bose-Einstein condensate is and from my scientifically trained friends I heard that Schrödinger equations are difficult to understand even for them. So let's switch to my field of training: theology/psychology. That's when I felt like stopping the DVD in disgust. People are victims because they think they are victims? Try selling that to someone dying of hunger in Darfur! This is anything but spiritual and a very convenient way to avoid responsibility. It goes even further in degrading religion. The old worn out cliché of God as a big daddy up in the sky keeping score and Jezus as big brother placating big daddy for us is brought up again. "Many" Christians believe this, it is said. Well, I sure don't and how many is many anyway? The interpretation of Genesis is even worse. If this is the standard for both religion and science, I can wholeheartedly understand the scientific criticism on this film It's teeming with logical fallacies. So after the snowflake nonsense I was ready to stop watching this film and label it new age baloney and possibly harmful to the uneducated and uncritical. Trying to find some good, I switched to another perspective. Could this be the depiction of the thought processes of a depressed photographer, trying to make sense of life after being hurt in marriage, her mind clouded by negative thoughts and tranquilizers? In the second part of the film it seemed to go that way. But then the film abruptly ends with Dr. Quantum giving a demonstration of "flatlanders". That book was written in the 19th century! Verdict: 3/10 (some of it was amusing) unimaginative, uninspiring, shallow, containing some truths, some half-truths and a lot of unsound thinking, degrading both the glory of science and God. A better tale can be made out of this. For instance: our unity can easily be demonstrated by showing the evolution of the universe. Our peptides are made of atoms created in stars and flung into space when these stars became (super)nova. I don't need grossly misinterpreted quantum physics to understand that were are all united. The oxygen I breath to maintain the life in my cells is produced by algae in the ocean and trees on land. In turn I breath out carbon-dioxide to feed the trees. This is classical biology and enough to make me gasp with awe and wonder. Move out into space in your imagination and look at the planet. Can you see boundaries separating the landmasses into countries?

• This movie Sucked

  vikingwench2006-08-28

  I naively thought that this movie would explain to a dummy like me some of the more curious and fascinating aspects of quantum physics. I guess the "dummy" part of the above equation was the operating factor. What a stupid and annoying movie - to suck someone in with the lure of actually learning something only to find out that this little fairy-tale was about as in touch with reality as the original rabbit hole of Alice in Wonderland. Some re-packaging would be in order to warn other unsuspecting naifs that this is an exercise in credulity with abysmally lame ignorance on display. The best thing about it: anticipating watching it. The worst thing about it: watching it.