Review of Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality (2003) by David T — 25 Aug 2010

[FONT=Arial]This movie: I am not sure where to even begin about it. I went to see it in Seattle at the Northwest Film Forum. It was playing for a week last month and I went with a friend. I didn't quite no what to expect though I definitely didn't expect that a movie with "death" in the title could possibly be so inspiring. The film is about how our violent actions in life are inspired by our fear of our our own death.

The basic idea is that humans are animals and we react in the face of death like any other animal would: with fear. The difference is that we can think and reason and because of that, we figure out ways using our intelligence to "solve" the problem of death. These solutions include trying to get promotions at work to feel more powerful, trying to get rich to buy our way out of death, having kids to have a physical "us" around after we die, adhering to religions, and so on. Our entire cultural beliefs are built on this fear.

Well...what happens when we encounter people with different beliefs than our own??? that is where things really get interesting! If our beliefs help sooth our fears of death and if we think of those beliefs as "true" then what happens when someone else with different beliefs that THEY think are true meets us? One of those "truths" must be wrong, and conflict can easily stem from this. Fascinating![/FONT].