In this blog post, I revisit the gap between the reality we believe in and the truth through the documentary Zeitgeist, the Movie.
Zeitgeist, the Movie and My Life
Humans form certain values as they grow from birth. These values are primarily shaped by family, education, and social environment. I was no exception. I was born into a Christian household. Jesus. God. Father. My father’s world was the Christian world. God was my father and my guardian. I lived like that for twenty years. And when doubt first began to sprout, I couldn’t think at all. My thoughts seemed frozen. The initial trigger for my doubt was feeling the world’s unfairness. It was in the military. One night while on duty, a junior soldier said, “They say across the river in North Korea, they just bash heads with steel helmets. A buddy on the front lines told me.” Through binoculars, you can see they really just bash their heads in. My thoughts spread from nearby North Korea to Southeast Asia, to Africa. People experiencing the worst of the worst. People groping their way through the very bottom of the bottom. Why are humans so cruel? Why does God only play the role of a bystander? Where do I live, and where do they live? When I learned of Pol Pot’s atrocities, the massacre of two million Cambodians, I was utterly horrified.
As I began to deny God, my entire value system began to shake. Why can I live so calmly? People are dying on the other side of the world, so why can I live so unconcerned? I couldn’t trust the world. Everything felt like a lie, and there were times it felt like war.
The Impact of the Documentary
‘Zeitgeist, the Movie’ was the documentary that first posed questions to me back then. Is Christianity truly real? Could it be a fictional world? What is America? What is capitalism? This film delivered such questions with a serious voice and a cold gaze. When I first encountered this documentary, I was struck by more than just a new perspective. The realization that many things I had taken for granted might actually be distorted for someone’s benefit made me rethink everything within me. Through its scathing critique of religion, the state, and the capitalist system, the film shook my existing beliefs to their core. It became a catalyst for me, and many others, to gain a new awareness of the fundamental problems of life we all face.
‘Zeitgeist, the Movie’ posed many questions to me and provided answers to many of them. ‘Zeitgeist, the Movie’ is divided into three parts. Part 1 is about religion. Part 2 is about the 9/11 attacks. Part 3 is about the American economy. Each part overturns existing beliefs. Somehow, after watching the film, everything feels overturned. It becomes confusing what is fact and what is fabrication. Perhaps the director wanted to convey the message that everything we see in this world might be false. Starting with the negation of religion, which has accompanied human civilization, through the story of the (cautiously) fabricated 9/11 attacks, and onto the current state of America, it effectively shows how falsehoods amplify and how power wields violence.
The Need for Change and the Role of the Individual
‘Zeitgeist, the Movie’ raises questions about how we follow the media’s lead, how the monopolization of wealth was formed, and how we are manipulated by certain frames. After watching the film, you feel like there’s nothing left to believe. First, you’re shocked thinking, ‘If this is true, it’s a huge problem.’ Then, you’re even more stunned by the harsh reality that even if it is true, nothing changes. After watching this documentary, I began to think not just about recognizing the problem, but about what I could do to change this world. ‘Zeitgeist, the Movie’ reminds us how much change an individual’s power can bring about. The skepticism that began with a small doubt ultimately spurred me into action and led to a resolve to resist in the best way I could. The world changes through the accumulation of small actions by individuals. That is why we must start right here, right now.
The film assembles diverse footage. It skillfully arranges news clips, interviews, voices, phone calls, newspapers, and talk shows, even incorporating cartoons. It adopts both explanatory and participatory documentary formats. To effectively convey its message (that we must know and seek the truth), it employs evidence-presenting editing to drive the narrative forward. Furthermore, while the filmmaker doesn’t appear on screen, the inclusion of diverse interviews makes it a participatory documentary containing a participatory narrative. Dirty stories surrounding religion, power, and money. The film tells us of the necessity of ‘knowledge’. We must know. We must dig and dig again. What they fear most is us finding out. Their conspiracies and their dark intentions.
Chinmoy Kumar Ghose, India’s spiritual pillar, once said: “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” It can seem too idealistic. Thinking that truly nothing changes leaves one feeling utterly hopeless. But that doesn’t mean we can stop throwing eggs. To crack the rock, we must know more. We must learn more, think more. And each of us must resist in the best way we can. That’s the kind of writing I want to do. That will be my revolution. The film ends with a single line of subtitles.
“THE REVOLUTION IS NOW.”
