Tag: Jean Jessup

Kumare

Nov. 01 Movies no comments

I found Kumare to be a surprisingly sweet and gentle, albeit extremely controversial, documentary; which was conceived and directed by, Vikram Gandhi, a New Jersey-born American of East Indian decent.  It was beautifully filmed with excellent audio.  The documentary follows Gandhi as he playfully dresses up as an Indian Guru and watches the response he gets in India and in the U.S.  Then he decided to see if his alter ego as an Indian Guru, could get a following.  So he went to Phoenix where he knew no one and started his own “teachings” as the Indian Guru, Kumare.  His teachings consisted of made-up chants, fake “yogic” postures and a blue light meditation which he created himself.  He also spoke in an Indian accent, dressed in robes, wore his hair long and behaved in a way that made people think he was not familiar with western culture.

Brought up in a Hindu family that clung to their religious rituals and beliefs, Gandhi is a bit rebellious regarding Hindu religion and spiritual practices in general.  His endeavor to expose the whole Guru experience through this documentary experiment may seem quite sacrilegious, but it is cloaked in the sweet nostalgia of a loving childhood upbringing filled with sweet memories of his family’s culture.

In the film, Kumare is continually interjecting into his spiritual lessons that he his a fraud and that his students don’t need him as a guru.  He would say that a guru is no more closer to God than we are.  He even had his classes use a vision board to show themselves never really needing a guru.  He gave his students an exercise to pretend that they were Kumare, and Kumare played the role of the student.  In the exercise, they lecture Kumare on what they themselves need to do to improve their lives.  Kumare was teaching them self-empowerment, which I believe, is the greatest spiritual teaching.

The film turned out to be much more loving than a documentary whose goal it was to show how easily fooled people can be about gurus.  The message of self-empowerment was sweetly delivered.  Highly recommended.  See the trailer at the Kumare official movie website.

Read Jean Jessup’s full review

Review written by Jean Jessup of Movie Reviews from a Spiritual Perspective.

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Better Living Through Circuitry

Jun. 15 Movies no comments

Better Living Through Circuitry is a documentary about the ecstatic qualities of raves. (Sensitive viewer alert: Some bad language and discussion of drug usage.)

Raves are huge parties, not night club events.  Raves transcend the whole rock-n-roll scene.  Thousands of people young, old, black, white, yellow, red, male, female all dance together and experience oneness and timelessness where all the confinements of the rat race fall away.  It’s not about how cool you look or who you are; it’s all about the dance.  It’s not a meat market either.  Ravers are too busy dancing and connecting on a universal level to get caught up in sexual games.  People say they feel very safe at raves and this allows them to completely be themselves.  Many feel so safe that they let their inner child run free.  There’s also an experience of self-empowerment and connectedness that carries over after the rave.  One raver said that before going to a rave, he used to be belligerent to strangers and now he is much more open and accepting of others.

The experience of oneness and complete connectedness with everyone at a rave comes through the music (Electronica, House, Techno, etc…)  One theory is that the fast regular rhythm of techno music simulates the heartbeat.  An interview with BT, Brian Transeau, talks about “Organic Electronic” music.  He talks about how indigenous cultures dance to a drum beat that is 4-7 wave cycles per second which corresponds to the theta state, producing an experience of heightened states of awareness and creativity.

The point of view of this documentary is extremely spiritual, loving and all about self-empowerment and as a result is immensely uplifting.

 

To read full review click here.

To watch the trailer on Youtube go here.

 

Review written by Jean Jessup of Movie Reviews from a Spiritual Perspective.

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Stone

May. 20 Movies no comments

The story is about a guy named Stone (Edward Norton) who is up for parole and is being interviewed and scrutinized by a very emotionally closed down parole official played by Robert DeNiro.  Robert DeNiro’s character always listens to the religious talk radio station.  The emptiness of all the characters is so well acted by all.  Stone is desperate to get out of prison.  One day he discovers a pamphlet and book in the prison library about a spiritual technique that I’ve never heard of before that uses natural environmental sound to tune oneself to God.  Stone starts practicing this technique and becomes very calm, grounded, and non-attached to whether he gets paroled or not.  This effects and triggers everyone around him especially Robert DeNiro’s character and Stone’s wife, well-played by Milla Jovovich.

PLEASE NOTE: This film is rated R and contains a scene of graphic violence, explicit sex, rude behavior and rude language.

 

To read the full review go here.

To go to official movie site go here.

 

 

Review written by Jean Jessup of Movie Reviews from a Spiritual Perspective.

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Hereafter

May. 20 Movies no comments

A visceral experience in interconnectedness and a tale of taking a stand in spreading the truth about spirituality.

I was surprised at the critic’s lukewarm reception of Clint Eastwood’s latest film as a director.  I think one reason is that the film was marketed as a supernatural thriller involving three characters, rather than a spiritual journey of three characters whose lives intertwine to help each other grow into their empowerment.  I guess I would find it rather boring if I was expecting a ghost story/thriller and didn’t believe in the existence of the spiritual realm.

I found it to be a very inspiring, surprisingly quiet story (a story supported by a profound background of inner peace and connectedness) of three characters in spite of the drama in their lives. The first is a woman, Cecile De France, who is a big-name TV journalist who has a near death experience and as a result decides to report on the existence of spiritual realms.  The second is a factory worker who refuses to give in to his clairvoyant talents and refuses to give in to all the requests from people around him for a reading.  The third is a very young orphan boy who just lost his twin brother.  He feels quite scared and alone and would very much like to hear from his twin.

To read the full review on  go here.

To go to the official movie site go here.

 

Review written by Jean Jessup of Movie Reviews from a Spiritual Perspective.

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