The comedy director Tom Shadyac had life threatening symptoms related to a concussion he’d suffered during a bike accident. Next thing you know, he’s re-examined his life and makes a documentary, called I Am, about the common experience of billions of humans living in diversity on the same planet.

This is a connection documentary, this is a global awareness doc where the director talks to some noted people who are familiar to us because of their commitment to humanity (Desmond Tutu) or because of their intellectual output (Noam Chomsky).

In some way I Am mirrors a couple of docs made by Austin director/actor Turk Pipkin (Nobelity, One Peace At A Time); films that also explore that current spiritual state of mankind. In another world, it’s like Shadyac’s karma to make a film like I Am to atone for Patch Adams. In all fairness Shadyac earned his Pasadena mansion, his totally loaded luxury jets and cars for helming Ace Ventura. By the end of I Am, Shadyac has jettisoned that life for a crash pad in Malibu while riding a bike to work. I Am also establishes that Shadyac’s father was a co-founder of St. Jude’s Hospital with Danny Thomas. Shadyac’s father as well as Howard Zinn, another of the talking heads in I Am, both passed away since the film was shot and released.

My favorite part of I Am was where they logged onto the phenomenon of how worldwide computers that trace consciousness peaked during events like the Christmas Tsunami or 9/11. There’re also segments on research illustrating magnetic fields around the human heart and primitive civilizations making first contact.

There’s a lot of sometimes goofy, sometimes profound news and found footage but that is low-rez compared to the sharply defined talking shots of scientists and thinkers. You get the feeling that Shadyac has been a freak all his life, but here he puts his money where his mouth is, all to good effect.

- Michael Bergeron