Review of The Nature of Existence (2010) by Marjorie R — 19 Jun 2010

The Nature of Existence is very moving and thought provoking film. I fell in love with it in the first couple of minutes. The narrator /director introduces himself and explained the 2 main reasons that he felt the need to make this film: the death of his father when he was thirteen & the questions that he's had since then. The other event that helped give birth to the making of this film were his thoughts & feelings during the devastation of September 11th. That was "...when we all had to face our mortality for about a week.".

These were two events that I could relate to since I am 30, and lost my parents at a very young age.

I think we all have questions and issues that plague our life choices and these questions change and evolve as we grow and age. Many of the questions that we ask ourselves on a daily basis are in the film & answered by some of the most absurd people I've ever heard speak in my life such as Christian Wrestlers, new-age hippie commune dwellers , Christian Evangelists.

Juxtapose those answers with the likes of renowned scholars such as Richard Dawkins, a spiritual guru such as Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a writer/ comedian like Julia Sweeney , this film was a melting pot of enlightening, edgy & sharp comedy which seldom seen in good-hearted documentaries.

Why do we exist? Is there an afterlife? What is our purpose? Those are the questions asked in the film and everyone fancies themselves to have all of the answers. I don't know that anybody even has the answers, but one thing I decided after watching this film is that I agree with Julia Sweeney when she said that we get any closer to understanding by making them up.