Reviews & Ratings for
The Secret Life of Plants More at IMDbPro »

17 out of 17 people found the following review useful:
A must-see simply because it is so hard to have the opportunity to see, 15 February 1999

Author: anonymous from Ann Arbor, MI, USA

The Secret Life of Plants is worth viewing, if only because it is so hard to come across it. It originally appeared in theatres in the USA for about two weeks (and then only in "artsy" theatres), and reappeared once for a week several years later. It is not currently available on video.

The story is a documentary of research that shows fairly conclusively that plants are actually aware of what goes on around them, even miles away. It is somewhat humorous in the methods it uses to prove the secret life of plants, but thought-provoking in the conclusions it arrives at. The most wonderful thing about the film is the soundtrack. This is original music composed by Stevie Wonder. There is even a scene in the film of Stevie singing one of his songs in a boat on a river. This scene is very moving, as Stevie is blind and yet able to know where he is going. The scene is the climax to the movie, and metaphoric as to what has been presented about plants, that although they don't seem to have senses as human beings and animals do, they are quite well aware of what is going on around them and where they fit into this in the evolutionary process.

10 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Where'd it go?, 23 February 2004
Author: mrboo from Los Angeles, CA

I saw this Paramount flick quite a few times, back when I was a projectionist just out of high school at the local art movie house, (this was circa 1982). I remember it being a mixture of dry documentary stuff and wonderful musical bits. Of the docu part I remember a scene where they hook a plant up to electrodes and measure it's sensitivity while they chop a head of lettuce in front of it (the plant freaks out on the machine's readout). I also remember a cool time lapse sequence with flowers blooming while they play "Here Come's The Sun". And the bits with Stevie Wonder wondering through a field of flowers was cool (and comical, as there was nothing for him to bump into). I've searched for years for this on video but I'm sure it's held up in musical right's limbo (that and the fact that no one's ever heard of it).

9 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Two thumbs up!, 16 May 2004
Author: smichal from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

The Secret Life of Plants is a fascinating documentary featuring time lapse photography, historical film clips, and the music of Stevie Wonder. The best parts were the scientific experiments where people all over the world hooked up various plants to oscilloscopes, lie detectors, etc. to see if they feel pain, fear, etc. The film tries to prove that there is some sort of global consciousness. I don't really believe that, but am still amazed by the results of the experiments. For instance, a cabbage had a reaction when smokers blew smoke at it. In another test, an office plant hooked up to a lie detector started reacting when its owner thought of burning it.

6 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Great movie--how can get a copy for my son?, 27 March 2006

Author: (paul.shankwiler@sbcglobal.net) from United States

I saw this movie in the mid 1980's in Berkeley. I found it at times incredibly touching, at other times uproariously funny. I left the theater convinced that plants are sentient beings who experience love, pain, and loss. My conviction and enthusiasm have waned over the years, but I still sometimes feel a twinge of guilt when I bite into a stick of celery. My son is now in fourth grade and wants to do a science experiment for school in which he tests whether or not plants that are talked to grow better than plants who are emotionally neglected. I think this film would be informative and helpful for him, but I can't find a copy anywhere. Does anyone know how I can borrow or rent a copy?

6 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Fantastic Movie/Looking to see it again!, 16 February 2004
Author: zherzog (zherzog@hotmail.com) from USA

I saw this movie with my wife many years ago in a small theater in Baltimore, Maryland, after hearing the great soundtrack. I have tried unsuccessfully to purchase/sees any copy of it via the producer, distributor to no avail. Other viewers/fans unite! contact me.

2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Watch with an open mind, 6 June 2009

Author: LongWhiteCloud from New Zealand

Albert Einstein once wrote, Imagination is more important than knowledge. Why? Because it is movies like this will test your ability to receive ideas and knowledge that exists outside of your belief system.

Resist the temptation to shut down your mind, and open yourself up to possibilities which 'traditional' science is reluctant to acknowledge. If you wonder why films like this are pushed to the back of our collective human psyche, you find there is formidable motivation to not entertain new science and ideas as it fundamentally questions the foundations on which conventional (mechanical) science is based.

Science does not move humanity forward per se. It provides 'evidence' to support ideas that have long already existed. Hence why Einstein said IMAGINATION is more important than knowledge, as it is our ability to think outside the square that allows us to evolve consciousness while science scratches its head trying to explain it within its existing paradigm. Meanwhile the paradigm has changed.

"All truth passes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." Arthur Schopenhauer

This is so true. Think about it.

It does however drag on at stages, and bless Stevie, it wasn't his best work. If it was revamped for today's audience and pace, it would've got a 10!

5 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Crackpot science never looked or sounded so good, 11 April 2007

Author: d-millhoff from Los Angeles

The Secret Life of Plants is a long, rambling documentary built around New Age pseudoscience - seeds communicating with distant stars, laughably dubious "experiments" such as a telepathic cabbage identifying the "murderer" who mutilated a fellow vegetable, etc.

But if you can get past the crackpot stuff, it's an audio-visual treat. Spectacular cloud forests, stunning macro and time-lapse photography, and an astounding original soundtrack by Stevie Wonder.

The soundtrack stands on its own, and is available on CD; the movie remains unavailable on DVD or VHS, but turns up occasionally in art house theatres.

2 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
"I can vouch that the soundtrack is worth while", 26 June 2003
Author: faced (klitscho@aol.com) from philly

It should be a crime that Police Academy had over 3 sequels and I lost track of the number of Lethal Weapons after they lost steam with the second installment, and yet the Sidney Poitier-Bill Cosby comedy pairings are not yet available on DVD and a Stevie Wonder musically driven project seems to have vanished from the earth. I just completed a power point on the life and contributions of the man born Steveland Morris. In an otherwise saccharin report, I will have one sidebar in which I explain my disconcert with the burying of a project that Mr. Wonder was so heavily involved with. If you ever get the opportunity to see this film, you are in store for a treat as it is a hard to find attraction. Although, I haven't had the opportunity to view this film, given the soundtrack and the non-threatening subject matter one can predict that it is worth a look.

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