>>REVIEW
WHAT THE BLEEP? DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE
STARRING Marlee Matlin
DIRECTED BY William Arntz, Betsy Chasse and Marck Vicente
Opens Friday, March 17
Globe Theatre
Originally released in 2004, What the Bleep Do We Know? quickly took on cult status, filing extended runs at art houses throughout North America and Europe. Extended into this new "director’s cut," promising 95 per cent previously unseen interview footage from new scientific participants, Bleep’s exploration of quantum physics and its conflicting entanglements with religious beliefs is now even more of a love-hate phenomenon.
To judge Down the Rabbit Hole as a piece of cinema, however easy it may be to tear apart, is perhaps missing the point. As a film, it’s an amateurish bit of fluff with cheesy effects and melodramatic dramatic segments that hinder its case nearly to the point of utter futility. These dramatic bridges (featuring Marlee Matlin as bitter photographer Amanda) come off like first-year student filmmaking, at turns bizarrely R-rated and trite. Aiming at subtle comedy or dramatic revelation, these segments are merely uncomfortable distractions, pulling the focus away from the radical scientific hypothesis being presented. Were filmmakers William Arntz, Betsy Chasse and Marck Vicente truly trying to improve their film with this lengthy re-edit, their first move should’ve been to cut the Matlin sections altogether (although I must admit her toothpaste- fuelled emotional breakdown in front of her bathroom mirror isn’t something I’ll be able to forget in quite some time).
The only part of Down the Rabbit Hole worth discussing are the ideas it attempts to reveal. The newest discoveries in quantum physics appear to present the notion that particles are capable of acting in mind-boggling ways never before imagined. Potentially present at up to 3,000 places simultaneously (yet existing as one single particle), or acting on a reverse timeline unaffected by placement or distance (an example being two connected particles behaving precisely the same way at precisely the same moment despite separation across the universe, or the brain’s apparent ability to register events before they’ve even happened), What the Bleep’s ideas are the type of loaded notions requiring far more exploration than Matlin standing in front of a mirror in her underwear, fretting over the size of her hips.
While these scientific discoveries are indeed staggering in terms of what they might mean – the notion of the universe as a connected whole is indeed a comforting thought to those struggling with the notions of religious belief – Down the Rabbit Hole’s biggest hurdle is its own misguided attempts at variety and drama. Despite how thought-provoking the actual interview segments may be, wrapped up within a film one can barely stand to watch, their effect is either missed or lost altogether. Combined with the "all new" Dr. Quantum superhero computer animation segments tacked on throughout, the filmmakers almost appear to take their subject less seriously than they should. If the findings within quantum physics are indeed correct, why present them as a badly animated cartoon?
If Down the Rabbit Hole deserves any real props, they should come in the form of at least taking the first steps in broadening the consciousness of moviegoers. Placing interview segments from noted scientists alongside new age wisdom from the long-dead mystic Ramtha (supposedly channelled on-camera through American woman JZ Knight) might sound like yet another distraction from any real point on paper (never mind a bizarre interview choice for a scientific documentary), yet is somehow pulled off through the filmmakers’ decision not to credit any of the participants’ names or credentials until the closing credits. Until you realize Knight’s speaking the thoughts of a "master teacher" dead for 3,500 years, you almost buy into what she’s saying.
What the Bleep? Down the Rabbit Hole doesn’t answer any questions, but that’s not what it sets out to do. No matter how badly executed it may be, if it prompts new thoughts in viewers on the way out of the theatre, it should be noted and praised. Whether or not these folks should ever be permitted to make another film again is debatable – either way, they’ve already made their mark on science (and done their damage on cinema). |
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