SpiritFilms

Cloud Altlas in nothing less than an attempt at conveying a sense of the cycles of dharma, the Kalachakra, the wheels of time that we are bound to, and the archetypes and themes that move through history and through lives. At best it gives you a glimpse of the heavenly motion of the greater cosmic templates of which we are usually unaware. At worst it panders to the lowest common denominator incorporating cliché Hollywood techniques for engaging the audience in thriller style action and moment by moment gimmicks. The film is like a bridge from the gross to the sublime and the view from that bridge is as vast as the ocean of time. Like a James Joyce novel it is elevated, elitist, demanding of its audience, and at times tedious. I would say that it is one of the rare films that turns consciousness away from the film and upon itself, forcing the viewer to deal with their own resistance, to make sense of a complex tapestry of meaning or to walk away disappointed. It is truly a case where you get back exactly what you put into the viewing experience. The noble attempt to convey something of this magnitude, purpose and importance in an of itself must be something that we nurture in our society. There can be no greater challenge and reward for a film.

Samsara in ancient Sanskrit means something like "the cycle of death and rebirth". It has also come to mean the cycle of suffering and attachment to the world of outer form in some of the Buddhist traditions. In this film we see incredible, endless hyper-vivid images of every facet of life on planet earth. One is left with a sense that it is all kind of crazy, all arising and passing away endlessly. It is fascinating, beautiful, ugly, banal, comic and tragic at the same time. Endless creations, endless struggling, toiling, consuming, creating, packaging, separating, putting back together. Samsara shows the whole big mess, although I felt it could have gone much farther showing the violence, destruction, depravity, gluttony and endless consumption. But if it had gone farther it may have made people too uncomfortable and alienated part of its audience. On the whole is played an artful boundary between engaging our sense of the aesthetic and showing us the unconscious, ever-churning patterns that direct movement on the planet. When we become aware of these patterns, they are no longer unconscious.... they are now a choice.

Inner Worlds Outer Worlds creates in the viewer a feeling that one is going down a rabbit hole, deeper and deeper until one realizes that we have ACTUALLY been down the rabbit hole all along. Our eyes have been closed as we have missed the sublime essence of nature, as we have created endless distractions for ourselves. The film juxtaposes ancient spiritual teachings with cutting edge science, beautiful fractals and observations about modern society. The main premise of the film is that we are asleep, moving in endless cycles of craving and aversion which are perpetuated by a pathological egoic or thinking mind. One needs to still the mind to "wake up". The truth is conveyed gently without offending or crushing any belief systems, and at the same time showing how all spiritual system have one common source. As we move from the head to the deeper realizations of the heart, one is left with a profound sense of the beauty and sacredness of life.