LongWhiteCloud
Albert Einstein once wrote, Imagination is more important than knowledge. Why? Because it is movies like this will test your ability to receive ideas and knowledge that exists outside of your belief system.Resist the temptation to shut down your mind, and open yourself up to possibilities which 'traditional' science is reluctant to acknowledge. If you wonder why films like this are pushed to the back of our collective human psyche, you find there is formidable motivation to not entertain new science and ideas as it fundamentally questions the foundations on which conventional (mechanical) science is based.Science does not move humanity forward per se. It provides 'evidence' to support ideas that have long already existed. Hence why Einstein said IMAGINATION is more important than knowledge, as it is our ability to think outside the square that allows us to evolve consciousness while science scratches its head trying to explain it within its existing paradigm. Meanwhile the paradigm has changed."All truth passes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." Arthur SchopenhauerThis is so true. Think about it.It does however drag on at stages, and bless Stevie, it wasn't his best work. If it was revamped for today's audience and pace, it would've got a 10!
paul-shankwiler
I saw this movie in the mid 1980's in Berkeley. I found it at times incredibly touching, at other times uproariously funny. I left the theater convinced that plants are sentient beings who experience love, pain, and loss. My conviction and enthusiasm have waned over the years, but I still sometimes feel a twinge of guilt when I bite into a stick of celery. My son is now in fourth grade and wants to do a science experiment for school in which he tests whether or not plants that are talked to grow better than plants who are emotionally neglected. I think this film would be informative and helpful for him, but I can't find a copy anywhere. Does anyone know how I can borrow or rent a copy?
smichal
The Secret Life of Plants is a fascinating documentary featuring time lapse photography, historical film clips, and the music of Stevie Wonder. The best parts were the scientific experiments where people all over the world hooked up various plants to oscilloscopes, lie detectors, etc. to see if they feel pain, fear, etc. The film tries to prove that there is some sort of global consciousness. I don't really believe that, but am still amazed by the results of the experiments. For instance, a cabbage had a reaction when smokers blew smoke at it. In another test, an office plant hooked up to a lie detector started reacting when its owner thought of burning it.
mrboo
I saw this Paramount flick quite a few times, back when I was a projectionist just out of high school at the local art movie house, (this was circa 1982). I remember it being a mixture of dry documentary stuff and wonderful musical bits. Of the docu part I remember a scene where they hook a plant up to electrodes and measure it's sensitivity while they chop a head of lettuce in front of it (the plant freaks out on the machine's readout). I also remember a cool time lapse sequence with flowers blooming while they play "Here Come's The Sun". And the bits with Stevie Wonder wondering through a field of flowers was cool (and comical, as there was nothing for him to bump into). I've searched for years for this on video but I'm sure it's held up in musical right's limbo (that and the fact that no one's ever heard of it).
AD
