Psychological Review of the Movie ''I AM''


I am the movie is a documentary, based on the factual phenomenon of life. The movie represents two different life, e.g. materialistic and spiritual life. The central theme of the movie is the human nature, greed, the world ever growing addiction to materialism and human connection. The 20th century represents a life of materialism, and the spiritual aspect seems to end. The film beautifully depicts the man journey from materialism to spirituality, how suffering made a man strong. The movie contains huge psychological, social, emotional and behavioural elements in it. The movie highlights the interconnectedness of living things living on the planet through the mutual ecosystem, through our DNA, through the water we drink and the very air we breathe in. The bio-psycho and social model of the movie are imperative to understand the in-depth meaning of the movie.

The Biological Aspects

Shadyac portrays the evolution process, considering the Darwin theory of evolution. According to Shadyac Darwin’s theory emphasises the aspect “survival of the fittest” only two times in his work, but the word “love” is repeated over 90 times. His theory is publicised as survival of the fittest, but a strong biological need to collaborate is love, which is mandatory for survival. In this movie, he beautifully represents the biological need for love, either the love for human or the divine.

The Social Aspects

The social aspects refer to the natural and human-made disaster or accidents that change the entire life of an individual. In this movie, the Tom Shaydac portrays how an accident changed the human destination, the purpose of life and thinking. Every human is running after the money and status. But a life-threatening experience can change human mind and life. The struggle for searching the meaning of life doesn’t belong to him but the whole human society and races. How the individual copes with or suffers from this duration, it also reflects the human relation regarding support.

The Psychological Aspects

The psychological aspect represents his sleep problem, the struggle for exploring the meaning of life and spirituality. The way he presented himself as a victim of adventure, and his suffering from Post-Concussion Syndrom and other psychological and physical symptoms led him towards a philosophical or spiritual world. His hypersensitivity to noise, suicidal ideation and sleep problems brought a new way of thinking. The spiritual world made him realise that we cannot buy happiness with money; cooperation is the source of peace instead of competition. The film also highlights that for mental and physical well-being positive thinking and behaviours are better than negative feeling and actions. The emotional aspects represent the feeling of helplessness, and misery. The behavioural elements represent how he behaves in two different worlds, e.g. the materialistic world and the spiritual world as well.
The movie represents both the subjective and objective elements in the struggle for the meaning of life. The way Shadyac was asking questions appearing personal to him but the interpretation of the results from the interview was somehow objective as he relates the answer with his biasness. The documentary was fascinating because of its true phenomenon, describing scientific principles to support and also challenge several of the hypotheses regarding human evaluation. The Darwin theory of evolution was also considered in the script of a movie. After his sufferings, he travelled around the world to interview the scientific and spiritual personalities Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Noam Chomsky, and many others to explore the answer that overwhelmed him. The term of the movie ‘’I AM’’referred to “the power of one.”Which means to the join forces the humanity as a whole not the only solution to any problem, but the power of individuals are the best source of bringing about a change. The individual power and individual difference regarding experience, maturity, struggle and destination in itself is a big element to understand the human nature. The interview with philosophers and scientists gave a better understanding about the topic “What’s wrong with the world?” and “What can we do about it?” the personal experiences and observation of each interviewer were unique and helpful in searching the meaning of life. The use of archive footage or visuals gives a better understanding of what’s being said and what’s the message inside each image. According to me, the movie is very helpful for the youth of the 20th century. The film is appealing for those kids who tend the leadership and potential to save the world. The children may learn to find out their direction from materialistic to spiritual world. The developing issues among children due to current modern civilisation can be controlled through such inspirational movies. In short, I AM a window into Truth, the mystery and magic of who we are, and the fundamental nature of the connection and unity could improve the way we live and walk in the world.