MOVIE REVIEW

CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD
Available on DVD from FOX Home Entertainment for $29.98

The movie, Conversations with God is faithfully based on the life of Neale Donald Walsch. It focuses intensely upon the period of time when Neale was descending into homeless status and is a riveting portrayal of a man whose ego is slowly and painfully being eroded so that something finer can flow through him. Ultimately his journey is a healing one, eventually leading to the publishing of the enormously popular Conversations with God books.

The movie is an excellent telling of this epic story of spiritual realization. And epic it is. As Cate Montana, our What the BLEEP newsletter editor, said: “It’s amazing what spirit has to put us through before we’re ready to listen.” All of the elements of a great storytelling are here – Fine acting, photography, direction, all combine to maximize the impact of this very human story. And because it is so effectively told, it’s a story that I’ve gone back to in my mind for days afterwards.

For me it’s great to watch a film about a true hero. Not some “hero” who miraculously dodges 20,000 bullets to shoot everyone else, but someone who wrestles with the self-bullets and comes out the other side to help millions (7 million plus books sold!).

On a more personal note – there are really two people behind this film. The one in front of the camera (as acted by Henry Czerny) is Neale. The one behind the camera is producer/director Stephen Simon. Stephen has been on his own journey to get these films made for decades. Mark Vicente – one of the BLEEP filmmakers – even took a film class 15 years ago taught by Simon about making mystical movies. Simon has produced spiritual movies, written books and articles about it, created a new way of distributing films, via the Spiritual Cinema Circle and finally made this film. For his unrelenting passion to make this all happen, we fellow filmmakers are all most grateful.

Reviewed by Will Arntz ,co-creator of the movies What the BLEEP Do We Know!? and Down the Rabbit Hole. For more information visit www.whatthebleep.com.