Mindwalk (1990)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Bernt Amadeus Capra

Writers (WGA):

Bernt Amadeus Capra (story)
Floyd Byars (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

5 December 1991 (Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

A film for passionate thinkers.

Plot:

A US politician (Sam Waterston) visits his poet friend (John Heard) in Mont. St. Michael, France. While...

Plot Keywords:

Poet | Politician | Conversation | Philosophy | Scientist

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Liv Ullmann	...	Sonia Hoffman
Sam Waterston	...	Jack Edwards
John Heard	...	Thomas Harriman
Ione Skye	...	Kit Hoffman
Emmanuel Montes	...	Romain
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jean Boursin	...	Sacristan
Gabrielle Danchick	...	Tour Guide
Jeanne Van Phue	...	Tourist #1
Penny White	...	Tourist #2

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Mont Saint-Michel, Manche, France

Company:

Atlas

Trivia:

Thomas Harriman (John Heard) recited almost the entire poem "Los Enigmas" by Pablo Neruda. The last part of it says: "I want to tell you the ocean knows this, that life in its jewel boxes is endless as the sand, impossible to count, pure, and among the blood-colored grapes time has made the petal hard and shiny, made the jellyfish full of light and untied its knot, letting its musical threads fall from a horn of plenty made of infinite mother-of-pearl. I am nothing but the empty net which has gone on ahead of human eyes, dead in those darknesses, of fingers accustomed to the triangle, longitudes on the timid globe of an orange. I walked around as you do, investigating the endless star, and in my net, during the night, I woke up naked, the only thing caught, a fish trapped inside the wind."

Quotes:

Jack: It's the art of bringing people to agree on a certain course of action. If that course of action succeeds, the people are satisfied. If not, they're not. It's as simple as that. If it works, it's good. Period.
Thomas: Isn't that exactly what you said 'why politics doesn't work anymore'? That politics, you said, needed to become the 'art of the impossible'?
Jack: Whose side are you on?
Thomas: Hers, obviously. She's intelligent, gracious and more attractive.

Movie Connections:

References The Terminator (1984)

Intellectually stimulating, not for the masses

Being an egghead of sorts and a student of so many philosophies, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie the first time I watched it, and each time after that. Sam Waterston, Liv Ullman, and John Heard star as 3 people who meet by chance while touring an island. They then spend the rest of the movie talking about various scientific and philosophical concepts. There are brief (and very wooden) appearances by Ione Skye as the daughter of Liv's character.

The topics they discuss are fairly heady, but despite the edgy nature of their topics, the discussion never becomes heated or even mildly animated. Others have made the perfectly valid point that the dialog is one-sided, and I completely agree. Topics of this kind of importance and scope demand a discussion with all viewpoints represented. Otherwise, it can't approach the real heart of the issue, and it spirals rapidly into intellectual propaganda. These are good topics and valid points; they deserve better treatment. Nonetheless, the movie was enlightening on some levels.

I you're going to watch it, don't watch it to be entertained or awed by an auteur's cinematic masterpiece (which this isn't); watch it to expand your mind. Pay no attention to the plot (thin as it is) or the acting (stiff and clumsy at times). Just open your mind to the ideas expressed, then think about it after the movie has ended, because the topics discussed can go so much farther. The movie falls a bit short in expressing them; you'll have to finish the journey yourself.