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I Am | 2011 | NR | - 2.6.2
After a near-death experience and prolonged post-concussion traumatic syndrome, Tom Shadyac, the director of comedies "Bruce Almighty," "The Nutty Professor" and "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective," engages with experts in philosophy, academics, literature, mysticism and science to address how the world can be improved. Featuring Marc Ian Barasch, Coleman Barks, Noam Chomsky, John Francis, Lynne McTaggart, Desmond Tutu, Howard Zinn and footage featuring Jim Carrey and Steve Carell. Directed by Tom Shadyac. [1:16]
SEX/NUDITY 2 - We see footage of a man grabbing his clothed buttocks and pulling them apart to mimic a mouth talking.
► A medical illustration of a fully nude man and a woman is seen, and the genitals and chest of the man and bare breasts and non-discernible genitals on the woman are visible.
► On multiple occasions, we see footage of women wearing bathing suits. Magazine covers are shown with pictures of women wearing cleavage-exposing dresses and a woman wearing a bikini (her cleavage and bare abdomen are visible). On multiple occasions we see footage of shirtless men and a man's bare chest is visible as he boxes. A naked baby is seen. Two boys are seen shirtless.
VIOLENCE/GORE 6 - Throughout the movie we see clips of the following: A man slicing through a woman's eye (blood pours from the open eye and the footage is black and white); a heart beating outside a body (blood and muscle are twitching next to the beating heart); a human brain with a small amount of blood and mucus visible on the tissue is placed on a table; and we see footage shot inside a human's lungs (mucus is visible as we watch the walls of the lungs move).
► A man is shown two photographs, we watch his shocked reaction and we see the photographs: a person's face appears to have been blown off, blood and tissue hanging from the massive gaping wound, and a man with his face and torso covered in blood and a deep cut on his neck. We see bloody cuts on a man's arm and leg as he describes that he had been in a bicycle accident.
► A man is seen wincing in pain as a doctor adjusts his hand in a cast and we hear the cracking of bone.
► We see brief clips of the following footage: A building exploding into a ball of flames; a car engulfed in flames; a building tower smoking and in flames and an airplane flying into another nearby building and exploding; an airplane being shot down by another airplane; a camera flies into a massive fireball and black smoke engulfs the camera; men watching an atomic bomb drop and explode; the burnt out remains of the World Trade Center with people being carried and helped from the wreckage; a burning plane; and a man shoving another man while shouting, and then shoving the camera away.
► We see brief clips of the following footage: Two lions leap at one another; two elks charge at one another, locking horns; a whale grabs a seal and throws it in the air; a shark (with bloody jaws) grabs a fish; a lion tackles a zebra; a snake attacks and eats a mouse; two hippos violently bite each other; two gorillas wrestle each other; two deer fighting, their antlers locked against each other; and a wildebeest shoves a lion off another wildebeest (the wildebeest gets up unharmed).
► A television reporter is heard announcing that a man's concussion had caused his depression and suicide (we see two men in football uniforms slamming into one another). We see newspaper headlines and magazine covers concerning the number of soldiers committing suicide. On multiple occasions we hear a voiceover of a man explaining that he was depressed and although not suicidal, he would have "welcomed death" after experiencing a concussion and post-concussion syndrome.
► We see footage of rescue workers helping men and women covered in debris from a fallen building, and a rescue worker is seen helping a dog out of a frozen pond (they are pulled to safety). We see footage of KKK members burning a cross and silently shouting. Police officers are seen carrying men and women out of buildings and dragging them off buses.
► A man uses the imagery of cutting up a dog and reassembling it; we see an illustrated cartoon of a dog on a gurney, pieces of it being stitched together and then see an attached monitor flatline.
► We see a young boy crying profusely and shouting at a man. We see water pouring over a building and destroying trees.
► We see a photograph of a boy holding a gun pointed at the camera. We see a poster with the words, "Fight! Kill!" We see a photograph of a man pantomiming with his hand a gun held to his head.
► We see brief clips of the following footage, played for laughs: A man slamming his head on a filing cabinet, a man falling off a bike, a man slamming into a pummel horse, and a man slamming into a pummel horse followed by five men jumping on top of the man; two men violently punching and hitting one another during a hockey game; a man sets another man's hair on fire; a girl kicks a man in the groin and he falls over in pain; a woman falls into a hole in a floor and a man is punched in the mouth by a woman; a woman falls down a flight of stairs; a massive tree trunk falls on a man.
LANGUAGE 2 - 1 anatomical term, 1 mild obscenity, name-calling, 3 religious exclamations.
SUBSTANCE USE - We see an advertisement for Prozac. We see footage of a man lighting and smoking a cigarette as a voiceover explains that doctors take time to smoke cigarettes, and a man is seen smoking a peace pipe.
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Ralph Waldo Emerson, hyperbolic oxygen treatment, concussions, post-concussion syndrome, PTSD, ethnosphere, wealth and happiness, consumerism, self interest, Plato, mirror neurons, empathy, democracy, Theory of Evolution, Darwin, 9/11, "It's a Wonderful Life," Vegas nerve, St. Jude's Hospital, Heartmap Institute, tsunamis, quantum entanglement, interconnected life, Noetic Sciences, arson, mind and matter interaction, Human Genome Project, Berlin Wall, Civil Rights Act, Nelson Mandela, apartheid, US economy, Native American traditions, segregation, cancer, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., South Africa.
MESSAGE - Love, kindness and understanding are the keys in saving the world.
CAVEATS
Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.
We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.
Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.
Saturday Night - 4.4.10
Piece by Piece - 1.2.3
Joker: Folie à Deux - 7.7.10
Monster Summer - 1.4.3
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We are a totally independent website with no connections to political, religious or other groups & we neither solicit nor choose advertisers. You can help us keep our independence with a donation.
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Become a member of our premium site for just $2/month & access advance reviews, without any ads, not a single one, ever. And you will be helping support our website & our efforts.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
We welcome suggestions & criticisms -- and we will accept compliments too. While we read all emails & try to reply we do not always manage to do so; be assured that we will not share your e-mail address.