Wake Up (2010)

Fantastic!

A Masterpiece!

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

No real explanation of how he affords all the travelling (does he even have a job?), no attempt to embrace any of the practises that offer him help, and a truly banal revelation that made me question seriously if the previous 90 minutes were worth it. Oh, and don't get me started on the oh-so-obvious guilt issues that command his life which he seems to be utterly oblivious to - or at least loathe to do anything about. Very little makes sense, and with massive coincidences (like his girlfriend's name) and scenes that smack of a set-up the overall feeling one gets from this is apathy, on every level. A semblance of a narrative arc would have been nice, but the story never gets out of second gear with the landscape becoming far more interesting than anything the protagonist does or says. I gave it a 5 because there's some evidence of competency in filmmaking, but with very little to engage with for the audience I can't recommend it.

It hit me pretty early on that this was most probably not a "legitimate" documentary but something more along the lines of Joaquin Phoenix'a "I'm Still Here". Still the concept was interesting. Personally I enjoyed the "spiritual journey" aspect that would have been interesting even without the premise of his sixth sense. A reviewer here implied, in so many words, that the film came off as one big advertisement for new age philosophy, etc. I didn't see it that way. On the contrary, Elrod's reactions to practically all of the "mystics" was one of befuddlement, confusion, cynicism and resignation that the journey had not ended...and perhaps it's a paradox that he "found enlightenment" not with modern esoteric theology but in the ancient wisdom of the Native American. On the contrary, I got the impression that some of the new age practices were being skewered. I mean, how foolish do grown men and women look shooting arrows at targets with blindfolds on their eyes??? I give the film a seven because it was interesting and a decent, if concise introduction to unorthodox belief systems. It held my attention.

I agree with timmyhollywood's review on this documentary. It was boring and very poorly thrown together. I expected to see more concrete examples of his connections with spirits, like in the movie sixth sense. The only interesting part of the movie was the interview with Roger Nelson on his Global Consciousness Project, which has been collecting data from randomly generated numbers for 12 years. They claim that there is a connection between randomly generated numbers and world events, it is an interesting theory. However, I am skeptical.I'm disappointed that Netflix has a 3 star rating on this film. Skip this film and watch Tom Shadyac's 'I Am' documentary, which is also available on Netflix and much more inspiring.

I really liked this documentary and plan to watch it again shortly with my husband. It is a refreshing look at a courageous man grappling to come to terms with unusual abilities that come to him. Other reviewers doubt the authenticity of his experience. That did not occur to me, honestly. It seemed believable, and, yes, it would have been nice to have more explanation. But what I got was that there really was no explanation, and that is a fact of life, that it's full of mysteries. Mostly, however, it's a journey from a fundamentalist Christian origin to a journey of open spiritual exploration and the realization that we are evolving to a world where spirituality transcends religion.