“One – The Movie” is like an extended version of those cartoons about someone who climbs a Himalayan peak and finds a holy man sitting there. The question I always have about that cartoon is: What’s more important, the answer from the holy man or the fact that someone has climbed all the way up a mountain looking for the meaning of life?
| In search of …: A documentary crew searches for the meaning of life, and tackles some famed experts (Robert Thurman, Deepak Chopra) for their comments on the subject. It’s more about making a documentary than the Answer, but some smart people say smart things.
Rated: Not rated; probably PG for subject matter Now showing: Varsity |
As we are told right away in “One,” this film project began with director Ward M. Powers waking up one morning and deciding to make an independent film. The quest was to find the meaning of life. So he hooked up with a couple of friends (who didn’t have any filmmaking experience, either) and set out.
The idea was to interview people on the street, and in the early weeks Powers talked to a Christian radio host and the organizers of an atheist picnic. Almost on a whim, he decided to float an invitation to Robert Thurman, the distinguished Buddhist scholar (and father of Uma). For some reason, Thurman agreed.
This set off a chain reaction of agreement from other deep thinkers, including Deepak Chopra, Vietnamese writer Thich Nhat Hanh, and Ram Dass. Perhaps spending your life thinking about the great subjects makes you a good sport, because these folks all sat down with Powers and his band of nobodies and answered a list of questions.
The questions included the expected: “What is the meaning of life?” and “Describe God.” Powers also asked his interviewees to describe the state of the world today, but without using any words.
If it sounds like I have been describing the story behind the movie rather than the movie itself, it’s because that’s the way “One” plays. Powers has arranged the film so that the story is really his quest to make the film – he narrates, and frames the film with his own adventures.
The point is less a search for meaning than a primer on how to get a movie made. Powers is constantly marveling at the drama of landing interviews or the circumstances of meeting people. When we get to a montage of snapshots of the filmmakers with their celebrated interviewees, the whole thing began to feel like a home movie.
Despite the problems, there are some delightful moments. The bearded holy man Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev is a good source of wry witticisms, including his warm, exasperated chuckle when Powers asks him to describe God.
“One – The Movie” wants to blend the Michael Moore style of first-person documentary with the philosophical bent of “What the (Bleep) Do We Know?” It doesn’t really succeed, but people with curiosity about the big questions will meet a group of informed experts who believe that going through life without being aware of going through life isn’t enough.
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