I Am

[mlr]

Tom Shadyac's I Am is about as deep as his other cinematic masterpieces: Ace Ventura and Bruce Almighty. We are told that the phenomena of quantum entanglement is the source of human compassion; that aboriginal societies had little element of competition; and on and on. The film ends with All you need is Love playing in the background as Shadyac explicates. Shadyac is a child of privilege and connection which probably played no small part in his Hollywood success. And that success probably played no small part in the ability to shove a camera in front of Desmond Tutu, David Suzuki, etc. These heavily edited sound bytes are about as convincing as an environmentalist commercial from an oil company. Shadyac sold his Beverly Hills mansion and is now roughing it. In Malibu! Had the film not been told as the personal awakening of a little rich boy it might have helped. It reminded me of what Christopher Hitchens said about privilege: To be a spoiled person is not to be well-off or favored by fortune or protected from brute realities. It is to be well-off and favored by fortune and protected from brute realities and not to know it.