Cheap Echos Of Enlightenment (DVD) (Dan Coplan) Price

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Customer Reviews of Echos Of Enlightenment

Awful, just awful
This is, to put it plainly, one of the worst movies I have ever seen. I cannot believe it has received these positive reviews-- or even that it has been distributed widely. The writing is awful and predictable; the acting is laughable; and the plot made me nauseous. It attempts to play on every new-age theme it can. For anyone looking for a serious film about a spiritual quest-- search elsewhere.

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ambition = 5 stars, follow-through = 3
As the story opens, we're immediately handed a mystery: Who is Daniel? What happened in his last days? Is he Dead? If so, how? Through flashbacks, we follow the spiritual transformation, as Daniel slowly awakens to the illusion surrounding him - the lies, the struggle, the social conditioning of everyday life. Overwhelmed by the world coming down around him, Daniel breaks out, disappears, and comes face-to-face with people all around him suffering from various forms of fear and disconnection.

Daniel's awakening allows him a sort of transcendental detatchment, from which he pronounces wisdom, and causes those around him to stop, think, and transform. While I appreciate the spirit of the film and script, I found the nature and ease of these transformations distracting and strained. Daniel seems like a smart and powerful person, and his wisdom is often profound, but even so, the awe-struck reactions he inspires are unrepresentative of the world I know.

Parallel to this, there's a sort of gnawing creepiness about Daniel. Maybe he's really insane? Maybe he's a charlatan? Why not play with these possibilies, and serve back some of the complexity that actually surrounds these issues in real life?

I respect this movie for approaching the human condition in a challenging way, and recommend it to anyone open to Buddhism - anyone who feels the chafe of social conditioning, and wants more... for those on the fence, or for whom "spiritual" is equal parts truth and nonsense... be forewarned...

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Absolutely Essential Viewing for all Humanists!
Absolutely Essential Viewing for all Humanists.

Selected out of over 2000 entrants, "Echos of Enlightenment" was shown at the 2002 Telluride Film festival as one of only 12 given a platform. Curious to see this film, I was not disappointed, and, in fact, as a result of seeing it on the DVD now available, I sat watching the end credits convinced it is absolutely essential viewing for all humanists, and for that matter, anyone who has ever made a movie, or is thinking of making one.

Although the subject matter is universal to the human condition, it is difficult to imagine "mainstream" Hollywood tackling this in such a head-on manner. Dan Coplan has done this with his first independent feature film.

Mystical in it's approach to the story of an Attorney who disappears in the face of the repellent greed and selfishness of his clients, the entire film, if you see it for no other reason, is remarkable for Dan Coplan's own astonishing and moving performance as the central character.

This stays with you long after you have watched the movie. An extraordinary achievement. Courageous, unstinting and totally honest. Also, as a lay person, you might just look upon the legal profession in a new light. The best of them should watch this movie. The worst of them should be made to watch it. Totally recommended. See it and feel it.