LIFE OF PI Movie Review

Finally, one of the most engaging, best-selling reads was made into a movie!  LIFE OF PI tells the touching story of a boy lost at sea after the boat he is on with his family and all of their zoo animals capsizes.

I remember, after reading this book for book club years ago, that it would make a great movie and it was thrilling to see such an excellent adaption into film, especially with all the special effects. I chose to see LIFE OF PI in 3D and it is meant to be seen that way as you feel like you are on the lifeboat with Pi and his tiger, Richard Parker.

It has been said that this 3D movie is the best one since AVATAR and I would agree. The other similarity between these movies is that they both examine deep, philosophical and spiritual concepts in a mainstream way. These are exactly the types of stories I want to see more of (and plan to produce in the future!) and they signify the best in class of the "mindful movie" genre.

There isn't much to say about this movie without examining the very end so if you haven't seen the film yet, please do so and then check back here as I don't want to spoil anything for you.

LIFE OF PI ending:
It was fascinating to discuss the metaphors and meaning in this film with my friends after the screening. To me, this film is about the mind and the stories we tell ourselves and others. It provides a mirror for us to see the way we examine our own lives and how we view truth and God.

My biggest take-away is that whatever we believe is our truth. There is no such thing as absolute truth, especially when something can't be proven?! Only Pi knows what happened to him at sea and yet he tells two believable stories and asks which one we prefer which leaves us wondering and grasping for an answer. Why is it that we crave to know the answers so badly? Why do we demand the truth or fight for it when it's so hard to prove something we all see differently? Why is it we are so uncomfortable with the unknown?


What I love about this film is that it asks us to accept and to have faith. We each have a different view of religion and spirituality and we each have our own God. Pi's father believed in hard, cold facts and science. I used to be like this and was an Aetheist for years until I had experiences I couldn't explain and had a deep desire to BELIEVE in something grander than human suffering. I'm a lot more like Pi now, appreciating all religions and the value in each.

This film is amazing because it calls forward our inner need for beauty and to choose the story that is full of love and connection. The other option is to believe in a disturbing story of human savagery. This is a deep reflection of our main choice in life: to listen to the beast/ego within or to chose the love-filled, hope-inspiring journey. The most fascinating part of life is that both are happening right now as you read this......we leave in the duality of war and peace, love and fear, acceptance and hatred and both realities fully exist. I am blessed to see more light than darkness each day and I consciously choose this by not watching the news and engaging with inspirational content.

Whatever story we tell is OUR story and often we would rather be right than happy so we cling to our stories, even if they make us suffer. Pi tells the story that he feels in his heart and we all want to believe. We want to feel that a tiger can love us despite it's animal instincts to kill us and that miracles happen.

Besides the truth, this story has us yearning for something else.....closure. Pi doesn't receive this with his family since they die so quickly and traumatically. He also doesn't receive it with Richard Parker as the tiger never turns to say good-bye. As viewers we are also left without closure because we are left wondering what really happened in the life of Pi.


Yet the key to the entire mystery and to the closure is the most profound and metaphorical line in the movie: "And so it goes with God." Pi says this after the writer picks the story he prefers and to me it means that only God is our witness to all that happens here on Earth and our preference for the truth IS the one that is filled with God, magnificent creatures, and the magic of a floating meerkat-filled island. Pi followed many religions as he could see value in all of them and this may be why he can easily tell two stories of what happened to him. What is the truth? Which religion is right? Is it possible they all are?


I highly recommend this film as it is not only beautiful and deep but I promise it will leave you thinking and  stir your soul. It has the three main ingredients for the perfect recipe in film: entertaining, enlightening, and inspiring. It is a triumphant epic journey that leaves us with hope and with a new-found curiosity for the mystery of life and God. It reminds us to respect, love and stay connected to animals and to trust that God is always with us, rain or shine.

Entertain - Enlighten - Inspire,
Kate Neligan - Founder & CEO of Synergy TV/Mindful Media Entertainment

VITALITY Movie Review

 

                                                

Last night I got to see an awesome new film called VITALITY from the passionate filmmaker and doctor, Pedram Shojai, at a screening in Malibu. This film is a health documentary that is made for the masses and is educational and enlightening in nature.

 

The filmmaker is a health care practitioner and acupuncturist and he noticed that the medicine field is a big sinking ship. He realized that people who get sick, see doctors and depend on them to fix them is a broken system and we need to take personal responsibility to prevent dis-ease and focus on our well-being. He believes that being free of illness is not true wellness but living a life of vitality is and this is achievable if we focus on certain areas.

The film breaks down the core of vitality which is surrounded by four inter-connected areas of life which are: sleep, exercise, diet, and mindset. The film has a lot of great facts that showcase how we have histrorically changed as a human species and how living in the modern fast-paced world can be damaging to our bodies. The movie shows us ways to rest and relax, tips to get great sleep, and ways to eat healthy while also focusing on the important beliefs we have about ourselves. The key is truly to synergize or harmonize all of these aspects of life to wholeness. Everything works together in our lives and a proper diet, sleep, healthy mindset, and exercise give us the energy we need to be our best selves and live our best lives.

My favorite part of the evening was the Q&A and discussion that took place afterwards. There was a lot of engaging talk about how people are unwilling to change, how we aren't fully educated (i.e. we don't even know if there are GMOs in our food!), and what we can do to help others get healthy. Let's be honest  - America is obese and our health care industry is deeply flawed and yet there is a lot of hope. 

I started to think about vitality in my own life and in the past few months I have gone gluten, dairy, sugar, and alcohol free (still working on breaking the coffee dependency). I have seen measurable positive results with no acne, better energy, more creativity, better sleep, less anxiety, no PMS symptoms, no bloating or indigestion, more peace and happiness, and I've lost weight! I overall feel much better than I have in years. AND this hasn't been easy but it is worth it. Now when I eat beef or have gluten or sugar I feel an immediate brain fog and feel exhausted the next day as though I didn't even sleep. 

The immediate seconds of pleasure of eating a brownie is now not worth what I will feel like for hours afterwards. It is the same with our healthcare. Yes, eating organic food may be a bit more expensive at first and gym memberships aren't free BUT the long term savings is priceless if I can prevent thyroid, candida issues and other possibly dangerous and extremely costly dis-eases. I promise you that healthcare and doctors can not and will not fix you. I have been there and the only way to wellness is through information, baby steps of change, and conscious choice. We have to think about our future; we often do with our children but not with ourselves! We are important, we are worthy of our own self-care and without our health then nothing else matters.

The charged energy in the room after this screening was palpable. Health, like money and spirituality, are juicy issues and they all come down to self-worth. I realized last night that the best way we can change the world is by changing our selves. The Gandhi method of "being the change" is the answer. As I have taken responsibility and educated myself about gluten and experimented with a cleaner diet, I have raised my vibration and consciousness. My friends and family have noticed. 

They have asked me what I am doing and they have slowly started to make changes. One friend is now juicing and feels amazing, a family member has cut back on her sugar dependency, and another friend is experimenting with gluten-free. I am so proud of them and myself. This is how we get healthier as a nation! This is how we break free of ill-ness and treat our bodies as our temples.

As I drove home from this event I realized the way to vitality is really to raise consciousness. One of my teachers says: "Every time one person resolves one issue, all of humanity evolves." My intention with Synergy TV is to raise consciousness. As I have raised my own consciousness I have changed so much. I now care about what goes into my body, what I think in my head, what I put into the environment, what I clean my body with, and so on. I am more response-able as I have more knowledge and I am inspired to change because I want to feel great. I am done with the status quo of misery and suffering. When we grow in consciousness we make healthier, smarter, conscious choices. 

Synergy TV is all about conscious choice which is the free will we have despite our circumstances. How we choose to respond to anything - sugar or vegetable, couch or gym, sleep or stress, positive thinking or negative - it is ALL up to us. We have the power and all we need or want to be vibrant, healthy and fully alive is within. Nothing we fill ourselves up with will provide the love we are seeking.

I love you and I encourage you to watch this film, to share it with loved ones, to screen it at schools and churches, and to participate in raising your concsciousness and others. We will do our best to bring you VITALITY on Synergy TV soon. Dr. Pedram Shojai is a true health-care rockstar and he has started Well.org which has more information on how to live a vibrant, healthy life. He is surrounding himself by smart doctors, charities he can help, and brands that care.

We are the ones we have been waiting for. The love you are seeking is within. Your birthright is vitality - choose it now.

Entertain - Enlighten - Inspire,
Kate Neligan - Founder/CEO of Synergy TV

Public Interest Pictures Non-Profit Film Festival

I'm excited to announce that SynergyTV is partnering with Public Interest Pictures for their upcoming Film Festival this Sunday, October 21st in Los Angeles.

 

This group is doing something really cool! They are partnering filmmakers with charities to create films and then all of the shorts are screening in a festival at the end of the weekend. Its sort of like a 48 hour film festival with a great prize and supporting great causes.

 

I believe they are still looking for both filmmakers to participate and attendees for their Non-Profit Film Festival. If you would like to apply, definitely send them a note or just come to The Hub for the showing on Sunday evening.

Public Interest Pictures Non-Profit Film Festival Weekend: http://publicinterestpics.org/calling-all-filmmakers/

JULIE & JULIA Movie Review

JULIE & JULIA offers such a positive, feel-good and heart-warming experience.  It feels like a “chick flick” and yet it is really for anyone that needs to believe that pursuing a passion can pay off. Meryl Streep is amazing as Julia Child and Amy Adams is endearing as Julie Powell. Based on the true story of a Queens girl who started a blog to give herself something to look forward to outside of her job. Her life parallels the famous cook, Julia Child’s, as they both transform through their love of food.

I can see why so many people adore this film because it sends an inspirational message that anyone can be successful. My favorite moment in the film is when Julie starts to listen to her 65 voice mails after she is written about in the NY Times. She quickly receives offers for an agent, a book, and a movie. In many ways, this is any entrepreneur’s dream (and certainly my own!) to hit it big overnight. Yet the truth is that Julie showed up consistently every day for a year to cook and write about her experience. It made me realize that a great idea, paired with consistent committed action really does yield significant results. Julia Child also had many attempts before her famous cookbook was published.

What I loved the most about this film is the relationship that both Julie and Julia are in with their respective husbands. The strength and support these men offered to their wives was amazing to me. It gave me hope that there are great guys out there that will show up for strong women who are working on their dreams. In the past, I used to feel like I would have to choose between an amazing relationship or my dream career. I always thought both would take so much time but this film portrays a different reality where both are not only possible but work together in complete harmony. I was comforted by the generosity these men offered to their leading ladies and how they worked as a team with the common phrase of “we’ll figure it out.” I have so much hope that these relationships exist now.

I also particularly liked how Julia raised the bar for Julie to be a better person. Sometimes we really do need a mentor or idol to follow and to positively project the new, higher-self qualities we are stepping into. This film also portrays Julia as a master at visioning. She stated clear affirmations that her book would change the world and it did. Her enthusiasm, yes-attitude, and love for food were infectious and impactful. She is proof that anything that we jump out of bed for at 6:30am is worth pursuing and doing every day of our lives.

So that is my blog post about a movie about a blogger! I am proud of Julie for staying the course of her commitment and for reaching success. As her husband said, she was already a writer; she just needed to own this in herself regardless of the outer circumstances. I am going to own being a writer as well, even if only a handful of people read this blog (for now). I love films with purpose, meaning and heart that make us feel good and to me the movie JULIE & JULIA is like beef bourguignon to Julia Child.

Entertain - Enlighten - Inspire,
Kate Neligan
Founder/CEO of Synergy TV and Mindful Media Entertainment LLC.

FINDING JOE Movie Review & Interview by guest blogger: Matt Welsh

Synergy TV guest blogger and Founder of Spiritual Media Blog, Matt Welsh, interviews Patrick Solomon producer of FINDING JOE.

“Finding Joe” is a documentary that interviews visionaries from a wide variety of fields on how Joseph Campbell’s teachings on ‘following your bliss’ and ‘The Hero’s Journey’ can be applied to our everyday life, including our challenges and personal dragons. The movie has become so popular that even President Barack Obama requested a screener of the film.

Finding Joe – Trailer V.7 from pat solomon on Vimeo.

While most inspirational documentaries focus on how good life can be if you get everything you want; “Finding Joe” stands out because it interviews real life people ranging from Deepak Chopra, Tony Hawk, to Rashida Jones about how their struggles, failures, and personal dragons were necessary to help them develop the capabilities to truly follow their bliss.

According to the film, everybody receives some sort of mysterious call to adventure or to awaken to a life previously unknown. Not everybody answers this call. However, those that do and then choose to act on this call embark on what Campbell and the film describe as ‘The Hero’s Journey.’

As the documentary portrays in vivid detail from popular movies, enactments of classic tales by a group of sweet and motley group of kids, and first hand accounts from real people ‘The Hero’s Journey’ is filled with a series of tests, trials, or ordeals a person must go through to begin and complete a transformation. Often a person will fail one or more of these tests. But, if the hero remains steadfast and open to unexpected help along the way, he or she will emerge victorious. For example, Campbell summarizes this process in “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” when he writes

“A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.”

I had the chance to interview the filmmaker for “Finding Joe”, Patrick Solomon, and asked him what sort of dragons he faced in his personal journey. His answer was very insightful and eye-opening:

“On my own personal journey, there are a lot of challenges in making a movie. I went down this road when I first started this movie. And I shot a bunch of things. I went to Bali. I went to Jerusalem. I shot just a ton of film and interviewed a bunch of people and when I started to put that together it wasn’t working.

So, at some point, I had to admit that this wasn’t going to work and we got to take another path. But, that to me was a dragon. That was months and months of work and thousands and thousands of dollars that I kind of had to let go of and come to grips with the truth that that wasn’t going to work. And, that was a wrestling match and that took months to come to the point of saying ‘okay man this isn’t going to work, you gotta let that go.’ And, I’m glad I did because the movie would be quite different had I hung onto that.”

The rest of our conversation focuses on why he made “Finding Joe” in addition to some straightforward advice for other filmmakers who are trying to make an inspirational or transformational film. You can listen to our entire 9 minute conversation by clicking the play button below.

Or, you can download an MP3 of our interview by right clicking on text below.
RIGHT CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD MP3 of interview
Finding Joe is truly a transformational film that will help anyone who is wrestling with a personal dragon right now, but knows in their heart that they are on path. Or as Joseph Campbell said,

“Follow your bliss and the Universe will open doors where there were only walls.”

SAMSARA Movie Review

Before I saw SAMSARA I knew very little about it, I just knew I wanted to see it. I was expecting a documentary of beautiful footage with commentary and what I got was an almost two hour meditative experience. The first 15 minutes of the film I was annoyed, contemplated leaving, and was thinking of all that I had to do. I felt like I was just watching a nice slide show of someone’s amazing photography. Then I realized I had an opportunity to slow down, relax, and let go. I was in for a journey – in fact the longest one we can ever make: the trip from head to heart.

By the end of SAMSARA I was captivated and actually having a deep experience. I could see that the film was a piece of art. It felt like I should have been at a museum rather than a movie theatre. It showcased how subjective art really is because at the end all of us who saw it shared a different experience.

People might think SAMSARA is telling a story and that there is a message in it, and I would have to disagree. I believe the moving images on screen are just scenes and we make them whatever we want. Just like we do in our lives with whatever happens. The story we saw in SAMSARA is the projection of our mind onto the images. The on-going inner voice I heard was to not judge. I kept hearing one of my spiritual teachers saying “it is what it is” and “all there is, is what is”. I realized I could remain neutral when there were some creepy images, as well as when there was something beautiful. 

If we really are a neutral observer to our thoughts while watching this film, we are in for quite a treat. I saw so many of the people in the film as unhappy. It felt like no one was smiling and everyone was taking life so seriously. It made me think, how is this my inner experience?  Is my own heart smiling right now? Could all of humanity use more joy and upliftment?

I felt sick during the scenes of animal husbandry and mass consumption of products. I had to close my eyes and I realized this is an area of my life where I want and choose to remain ignorant. I had also had a realization that I could use less paper, order out less, and recycle even more when I watched all of the shots of the trash in our world. I also realized how lucky and blessed I am to not only live in America but to have the job I do.

SAMSARA is a silent film. There is beautiful music that is well scored and perfectly synched to the images but the only real soundtrack is what is going on in our minds as we watch. This is where the reality is – everything else is just photographs of our world on a screen. Life truly is what we make it.

While this film is certainly enlightening in nature because of the process your mind goes through, it was hard for me to see it as entertaining. It is beautiful, bizarre, fascinating, colorful, and eye-opening. If we pay attention, especially to certain images, we can see the truth of “as above, so below” and the inter-connectedness of all things.

My favorite part is the creation of the sand mandala towards the beginning and the teaching of non-attachment that it circles back to at the end. This is one of the main messages I took from the film: to be non-attached to our thoughts as they come and go.

If you have any desire to really travel the world, this is the film for you. Just expect an amazing instillation at a modern art museum and not an educational National Geographic program. Be mindful of your thoughts and I promise you that you’ll learn something new about how you relate to the world. Certainly that is worth the price of a movie ticket, is it not?!

Entertain-Enlighten-Inspire,

Kate Neligan  - Founder/CEO of Synergy TV

P.S.  Big THANK YOU to the University of Santa Monica for inviting me to see this film and to Mark Magidson and Ron Fricke for making a stunning masterpiece.

 

One of the best short films ever made... "Change for a Dollar"

This is a MUST see short, drop everything you are doing and watch it now - it is amazing! I was crying within two minutes and couldn't stop sopping until the end. However, it's not sad at all - it's inspiring and uplifting and will make you feel better about humanity.

"Change for a Dollar" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DXL9vIUbWg

I had to post about this right away because I am so moved and deeply touched by the journey this film takes us on in just ten minutes and with only six words of dialogue. I wanted to share it so hopefully you are as well.

I've always believed that the homeless are actually highly evolved souls that come here as teachers for all of us. The first time I heard this was in "Embraced by the Light" which is a beautiful book that really looks at our homeless in a very different way.

What came forward for me while watching this is that homeless men and women truly are angels. Especially the one in this film. Why, you might ask? Because if we are ever triggered by them or get emotionl - they are being of service to our own personal growth and healing.

There is nothing less human about them because they don't work or because they might be a little dirty from the streets. They are still divine beings having a human experience just like the rest of us and it is a simple choice to shower them with compassion rather than judgment.

Every single time I see a homeless person I say the following blessing: "peace be with you" and this has been a silent prayer for years for me and I know some day one of them will look at me and say "and also with you" because I KNOW they are connected and tapped in to Source. We are no different and in fact, we are all connected.

I am so grateful for this video, the different and refreshing perspective, and for the acts of kindness so gracefully demonstrated. The only thing that is wrong with our homeless population is our own greed and any collective consciousness regarding lack.

It is time America to live more simply, do with less and help our brothers and sisters with what they need. There is ENOUGH, we are enough.....let's start acting like it.

My heartfelt prayer is that more of these films are made and seen, so we can look into the mirror to a better humanity. My promise is that I will do everything I can to see this happen.

- Kate Neligan
Founder/CEO of Synergy TV
Enterain - Enlighten - Inspire