I AM

US, 2010, 78 minutes, Colour.
Tom Shadyac, Richard Shadyac, Noam Chomsky, Desmond Tutu.
Directed by Tom Shadyac.

I Am is an autobiographical spiritual and moral essay by writer-director, Tom Shadyac.

Shadyac suffered an accident which gave him symptoms which continued long after hospital treatment, aggravating his physical and mental condition. It gave him time in recovery to reflect on his life and its meaning. When he began to get better, he decided to go on something of a spiritual pilgrimage, using his talent as a filmmaker, going to interview quite a wide range of figures and collecting a great deal of archival footage and images to illustrate his themes.

Best known for such films as Liar Liar, Bruce Almighty, Evan Almighty and his first feature film, Ace Ventura, his output indicated an interest in some religious themes and transcendence although in light and comic context. In this film, he still plays something of the comedian. However, he has the opportunity to develop his interesting questions: what’s wrong with the world? What can I do about it?

The film is very warm and personal in its approach to the questions, and he elicits rather genial responses from the interviewees. The well-known personalities responded as might be expected, Noah Chomsky on the meaning of life, Bishop Desmond Tutu on love and reconciliation. There are a number of scientists who are interviewed, highlighting the fact that science is a story with the danger of focusing solely on mechanisation as an explanation of human nature and the world. The speakers advocate acceptance of realities of what cannot be seen, heard or measured.

Critical audiences and those who want more rigorous intellectual approach as as well as scientific measurement and verification, see the film in the vein of the New Age trends which they dismiss as pseudo-mystical, fanciful and liberal.

Shadyac also realizes that his film can be criticised because of his successful career and affluent life which he is attempting to change. The scenes inside his mansions with their furnishings indicate his former attitude towards possessions. There are some convincing moments of interviews with his father, the director of St Jude’s medical centre, who quotes the sign of peace at Mass as a symbol of what can be developed in terms of love, harmony, reconciliation.

It is probably best to see the film has an essay rather than as a philosophical or theological exploration. Because Shadyac has a talent for humour and the light touch, he continues this even when exploring deeper questions in life. Which means that the film is accessible to a wider audience, not attempting to answer all the questions, but rather suggesting, evoking…

Shadyac moves to a consideration of what is right with the world and how this can be developed. It means that the film is very optimistic in its approach, a film about hope, recovery, love.

And the title? I am is not a self-promotion phrase but an answer to what is wrong with the world: I Am. And an indication of what could be right with the world.