I’d like to recommend an amazing film entitled Bodysong. It chronicled the entire human condition through hundreds of video clips taken from many cultures, many historical settings (back to the very beginnings of the history of film), and most importantly, from each stage of the human life cycle. It begins with images of conception, and then, in probably the best part of the movie, shows a couple of dozen births taking place (some waterbirths, some crouching, some traditional hospital births etc.). It won the British Independent Film Awards for Best British Documentary Feature. There isn’t much talking in the film, just an amazing musical soundtrack by Radiohead’s Johnny Greenwood.
The video clips cover birth, infancy, early childhood, middle and late childhood, adolescence, and then many adult issues covering the arts, language, education, conflict, violence, politics, death, and spirituality. It doesn’t go through the twelve stages of life in chronological order, but at some point in the film, all twelve stages are touched upon. There are images of explicit sexuality (including some vintage porno film clips), and a couple of executions (which you have time to cover your eyes for), so viewer discretion is advised.
In addition to the births, some of the more amazing video clips in the documentary were: a young Balinese trance dancer, shamans from different cultures, slow motion photography of young people in the 1920’s at a beach, facial expressions of fetuses in the womb, young children in an orphanage without social skills trying to play, and the faces of wizened centenarians. I would certainly recommend this movie for mature audiences, and especially for anyone interested in seeing the stages of life depicted in natural and vivid images. This is a true gem of a picture that deserves to be seen by more people. For information about the film from the Internet Movie Database, click here. To order the DVD from Amazon, click here. To see a clip of the movie (along with a sample of the Johnny Greenwood soundtrack) on You Tube, click here.
Order my book on the twelve stages of life: The Human Odyssey: Navigating the Twelve Stages of Life
(Ixia Press, 2019)
This article was brought to you by Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D. and www.institute4learning.com.
Follow me on Twitter: @Dr_Armstrong
