the film much like the alleged cures and treatments in the film is overall on the good side so long as you don't think too hard about any of it. i caught this film the other day while barely coming out of sleep and it's soothing tone was quite nice. but like the medicine in the film, all it does is soothe. When watched through the eyes of the western paradigm of skepticism the medicine in the film is obviously full of holes. The one medicine man in the film seems to have one miracle "cure all" root that he gives out to anybody regardless of what their condition is, and there is never any regard to how well it works, if at all. The tragedy is that if there were any medicinal qualities in any of these techniques and roots and herbs, there's little if any follow up to determine whether they work or not. The movie also makes the quiet assertion that western empirical medicine is a failure, which is quite backwards given the statistics on longevity in India vs The US. Of course all this doesn't say much about the movie which is quite harmless if viewed by a skeptical mind but can be considered dangerous by those easily fooled by the atavistic promises of charlatans. The film does work at getting a good look at how people live and die in the third world and as i said can be a somewhat peaceable film to watch in light of that. One point that i believe was lost in the film but could have been explored is how and why doctors in the west have such fallen status? One revered as healers, the modern doctor is usually regarded with fear more than anything else. IS fear the price we pay for knowledge and practical results??????
Review of Ayurveda: Art of Being
