Mindwalk

Garnet recently asked me if I had seeen a film called"Koyaanisqatsi. The title is a Hopi Indian word meaning "life out of balance." The film is an apocalyptic vision of the collision of two different worlds; urban life and technology versus the environment. The musical score was composed by Philip Glass. Glass also composed the score for Powaqqatsi and Mindwalk. (Click the link to view the movie trailer.)

I LOVE Mindwalk! I have watched this movie over a dozen times, and still find myself in awe each and every time I view it. It is not really a movie in the conventional sense. It is a distertation on systems theory, politics, poetry and life, caught on tape.

Adapted from Fritjof Capra's book, "The Turning Point," a poet, politician and physisist discuss old and new models of the universe, from the mechanistic model of Newton, Gallellio and Copericus, to the new ideas of systems theory, quantum physics and evolution. They quote poet Pablo Neruda and politician Julius Nyrere. They talk Descartes and Jefferson, Blake and Nostradamus. They go from macro to micro and back again. In "Mindwalk" the theme of this ongoing conversation is no less than Everything.

If you enjoy brain aerobics, this movie is a wonderful workout. (And for you feminist thinkers, it portrays a female as an intellectual, highly respected scientist, who never once kisses the hero, needs to be saved, or dons a bikini.) The woman in this film uses her ideas to make the world a better place for future generations. She venerates nature, speaks her mind, and is the embodyment of "wisewoman."

View the trailer, watch the film, Read the Book. You won't regret it.