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Reviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
THE NATURE OF EXISTENCE Roger Nygard’s previous documentary, Trekkies, about the world of Star Trek fans and conventions, was light and fun but nothing more than that. The Nature of Existence, where Nygard takes a much more upfront position in front of the camera, is much the same. How should we live our lives? What’s real happiness? What do various religions say about sex and sin, and how do they view the soul? To his credit, he films a wealth of opinions. Nygard travels all around the globe with a little Camcorder and seeks answers from Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, non-believers, doubters, and true believers. The cheap visual quality is matched with an orientation video-type of editing. The fast cuts from the talking heads leave little breathing room with the often beautiful images. His questions aren’t terribly pressing, but the answers are sometimes fun to watch, depending on who’s interviewed. We see some familiar faces, like actress Julia Sweeney, who had a full reversal of opinion on God/religion and brought it into her comedy act, or scientist Richard Dawkins (underused, considering he wrote one of the seminal books of our time, The God Delusion). Dawkins is sometimes quite frank with Nygard about his opinions, like his outright accusation that those who worship God are not thinking at all, which is just what the film needs. The same goes for straight shooter Irvin Kershner, who directed The Empire Strikes Back: “Nobody’s happy all the time, there are moments of joy in a person’s life, but you’d have to be an idiot to be happy always.” Other opinions are a little more, shall we say, on the side of the radical. On the one hand, there’s someone slightly moderate, like author Orson Scott Card, a fervent Mormon. But an evangelist, Jed Smock, who Nygard used to see back in his college days in the ’80s, still preaches today at the University of Florida, scaring the crap out of those who listen. The students are now more inquisitive, and they get into heated but reasoned arguments with a man who tells almost everyone that they’re a sinner going to hell. If only for a few moments, the film suddenly becomes electrifying with his confrontational presence. Nygard’s trip to China and
India is led along by his lackluster narration, which comes off more
like a travelogue than deep musings. Otherwise, the movie’s a brisk and occasionally
very funny trip through the religions of the world. If only it
were delivered by someone who wasn’t so ho-hum about everything. Nygard,
by the end, settles for the message that everyone has their opinion and
leaves it at that. Is it really, ultimately, that simple? Again, light
and fun, Existence offers nothing anyone other than a freshman
undergraduate would be wowed by.
Jack Gattanella
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