For Your Amusement: "I Am" Movie Review

I Am reminds me of Avatar. Kind of.

Confession: I really love the movie Avatar. From the blue people to the large tree to the predictable love story, I was and still am an Avatar fan.

What does my Avatar confession have to do with the documentary film, I Am? Well, just like the people of Pandora felt a strong connection between all living things, the film I Am tells us that we are all connected. It even sites science as proof of this fact. Can I completely regurgitate the quantum physics examples mentioned or properly explain to you the yogurt/people experiment? No.

What I will say is I admire the documentary I Am and its Avatar-esque view of our connected world (minus the blue people and love story). The start of the film, which is narrated by director Tom Shadyac, informs us Tom is going to tell us a tale of mental illness. While some of you may wait patiently for the stereotypical crazies to appear, Tom takes viewers on a path of self-discovery. After having a near-death experience due to a bike accident, Tom is left questioning his life, as is the way of those near-death experiences. Coming from modest beginnings, Tom was a struggling artist who got his first big break directing Jim Carey in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. After that hit comedy, he went on to direct many other funny films, like The Nutty Professor and Bruce Almighty.

With more success came more money and Tom bought more things. He says that after he stood alone in his 17-bedroom Pasadena estate, he realized all of his “things” didn’t make him happy. We are so conditioned to think that wealth and things equal happiness and there he was, living proof that concept does not always ring true. Armed with the resources to do so, Tom went on a quest to have experts answer two questions: “What is wrong with our world?” and “What can we do about it?”

Some of those interviewed included Tom’s father, the late Richard Shadyac, South African activist Desmond Tutu, writer Lynne McTaggart, biologist Elisabet Sahtouris, activist David Suzuki, the late historian Howard Zinn, and Rollin McCarty, the director of research at the Institute of HeartMath. Others were interviewed but those mentioned stand out in my mind the most, especially Tom’s father and McCarty. The late Richard Shadyac answers honestly, “I don’t know” when Tom asks him how we can better the world. McCarty stands out in my mind because his glasses and wardrobe made me feel like he was interviewed in the early '80s, not the 2000s. My own quirky observations aside …

The film tells us that American society has divided us into winners and losers—and consumers that are always looking to acquire more stuff. I know I’ve personally seen enough episodes of Top Chef and Hoarders to know there is truth to that observation. The film also notes that we are so focused on the economy that we have lost sight of humanity. I Am tells us that democracy and compassion are in our DNA. It mentions mirror neurons, the vagus nerve and the heart as our body’s way of getting back to our true tendencies, to feel compassion for others and want to help “the whole.”

With a message of love being key to helping mankind and “you” being the change needed to make the world a better place, Tom Shadyac says the mental illness he first mentioned is that we are living in excess while others, across the street and around the world, have nothing. Tom downsized his life and gave substantial amounts of his fortune away to start doing his part in helping the world.

I left the movie theater moved to tears (yes, I admittedly cry easily) and contemplating my own steps to take to help all of those living things I’m connected to. I recommend I Am to everyone, especially Avatar fans that want scientific proof that all living creatures on Earth are just as connected as those on Pandora.