Don't miss "Examined Life"

I recently got to see an advance screening of Examined Life. It is wonderful! Don't miss this excellent and thought provoking new film by Astra Taylor released through Zeitgeist films!
The film opens May 1 in theaters. Watch the trailer here.

In Examined Life, filmmaker Astra Taylor accompanies some of today’s most influential thinkers on a series of unique excursions through places and spaces that hold particular resonance for them and their ideas. Examined Life reveals philosophy’s power to transform the way we see the world around us and imagine our place in it.

Featuring Avital Ronell, Peter Singer, Kwarne Anthony Appiah, Martha Nussbaum, Michael Hardt, Slavoj Zizek, Judith Butler, Sunaura Taylor, and the indomitable Cornel West.

While all of the philosophers in the film are very interesting my favorite is Cornel West.
To my ear West has the most impressive and resonant voice. In addition to being a philosopher he is also an influential writer, educator, and activist.
"To be an intellectual really means to speak a truth that allows suffering to speak.
"Chekhov, Coltrane, and Democracy: Interview by David Lionel Smith." in The Cornel West Reader (1998)"

He speaks like a poet. Even the cadence voice reflects the rhythmic complexity of Jazz music and the Blues. It is his powerful voice that opens and closes the film.
Cornel West is a national treasure.

All the philosophers in the film strive to enlighten us by reminding us that we are all connected, and only in embracing our connectedness can we unity and solve the many problems that face our society.


Check out this interview with Astra Taylor IFC.COM

More thoughts on Examined Life later....