Blending New Age mysticism and quantum physics, What The Bleep Do We Know?! was heavily criticised for being "a documentary aimed at the totally gullible". Even so it notched up $10m in ticket sales in the US and generated a lot of interest in theories of rabbit holes and subjective reality. On the other hand, it hardly caused a ripple on this side of the pond. (Draw your own conclusions.)

Reality Is Relative

If What The Bleep left you reeling with its musings on life, the universe and everything, then this DVD won't do much to remedy the situation. A half-hour Q&A with directing trio William Arntz, Betsy Chasse and Mark Vicente raises more questions than it answers. Vicente plainly admits that "we didn't know what the bleep we were doing", or even trying to do, with this film. They casually explain that their intention was only to take their ideas public - and, hey, who knows, maybe even spark a cultural revolution. In any case, they are preaching to the converted with an audience who pose questions like, "Did you let the film organically unfold or is it something you surrendered to a spirit above the quantum level?"

Others applaud the filmmakers for creating a new way of looking at addiction and assisting the counselling of those who are trapped in patterns of destructive behaviour. Rather than discuss the film, the session quickly begins to feel like a cultist sermon encouraging viewers to "come out of the metaphysical closet". Especially disconcerting is testimony from a man who claims to have beaten terminal illness with just the power of positive thinking. Of course it's commonly accepted that reality is filtered through perception, but the attempts to elevate this to some intangible science feels warped and insidious.

A Higher Power

"I was called the mouthpiece of Satan recently," says Betsy Chasse, but Vicente attempts to dispel reservations by assuring us that no funding was received from any religious or spiritual organisation to make this film. Even so there is no mention of The Ramtha School Of Enlightenment where all the directors are known to have studied. This seems like a glaring omission especially since several of the talking heads in their documentary are also disciples of this bizarre sect - which is dedicated to a former cable TV saleswoman who claims to be channelling the spirit of an ancient warrior from the lost city of Atlantis...

A music video and theatrical trailer accompany the Q&A to make up a vacuous selection of extras. Lacking a discerning analysis of the film and the science behind it, it seems the filmmakers have gotten lost down their own rabbit holes.

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