So you’re stuck at home, it’s day 45 or 60 or 100 of this worldwide epidemic and you already finished Tiger Kings, the Mandalorian, and re-watched The Office. What’s next?
Why not choose something that opens your mind and teaches you something new about the world? Why not watch something to further your spiritual development?
For that, I’d like to present to you 9 movies or documentaries for your viewing pleasure, based on a specific category. I’ll give some runners up for other ones you might want to check out too.
1. Best Meditative Experience: Baraka
There are a number of films out there that are meditations in of themselves. Experiences like the Korean film Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring, anything by Andrei Tarkovsky like The Mirror, Terrence Mallick’s The Tree of Life, and the entire Ashes and Snow series make you slow down and contemplate the meaning of existence. Just watching them puts your mind on another plane, there’s nothing else like it.
And no movies do this better than those written or Directed by Ron Fricke, the man behind multi-decade escapade of Koyaanisqatsi, Baraka, and Samsara. While each film is a masterpiece and worth a watch, my vote goes to the one that acts as both a period piece and work of art, Baraka.
2. Best Character Piece: AWAKE
There’s a number of key films that go into the lives of the spiritual teachers and leaders we know and love. This includes Thich Nhat Hahn’s Walk With Me, Tony Robbin’s I am Not Your Guru, and 2006’s 10 Questions for the Dalai Lama.
Ram Dass (RIP) has so many documentaries about him, he almost deserves his own personal category. There’s 2014’s Dying to Know, which also features Dr. Timothy Leary, 2018’s Going Home, which is currently on Netflix, and the most recent (and probably last) one, 2019’s Becoming Nobody, which is my personal favorite.
But for this category I recommend going a little bit more back in time to one character that had a profound influence on so much of what we practice today: Paramahansa Yogananda’s, AWAKE: The Life of Yogananda.
3. Best Yoga: Breath of the Gods
With the popularization of yoga in the West, a number of documentaries have been made about it’s unlikely rise and growth into a multi-billion dollar industry. Some films try to educate, like the Yoga Unveiled series, while some follow a Westerner’s journey into the yoga world, like Netflix’s I am Maris, On Yoga: The Architecture of Peace, or Suzanne Bryant’s Yoga Is.
But for a more historically informative piece that also includes rare historical footage, my choice goes to Breath of the Gods – A Journey to the Origins of Modern Yoga. The film features interviews many of the “fathers” of modern day yoga.
4. Best Documentary: The Lottery of Birth
There are so many good documentaries on the nature of humanity and our quest for lasting happiness, it’s hard to pick just one. There’s Tom Shadyac’s (the director of Bruce Almighty and Ace Ventura) introspective I am, 2007’s The Dhamma Brothers, about the introduction of a Vipassana program in a correctional facility, and Roko Belic’s Happy about our search for happiness.
But for me the one that really encourages watchers to go deeper than what they have been traditionally taught, is 2012’s Creating Freedom: The Lottery of Birth. And hey, look, you can watch it for free right now.
5. Best Sci-Fi: The Matrix
The best Sci-Fi films are those that are philosophy lessons and spiritual experiences simply packaged for the masses to enjoy. Whether it’s academics poring over Ridley’s Scott’s Alien, futurists inspired by Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, naturalists moved by James Cameron’s Avatar, Aranovsky’s The Fountain or Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, the best science fiction films tap into what is most essential about being human.
But no film challenged the human psyche more and made the populace begin to talk about what makes up reality than The Matrix. If you haven’t seen it, what rock have you been living under?
6. Best Exposé: Bikram
The world of spirituality is full of incredible gurus, saints, and sages who are totally selfless beams of love and light. It also unfortunatley full of predators, abusers, frauds, and cults.
Some documentaries focus on exposing these people, like Holy Hell‘s reveal of the Buddhafield cult, others reveal the hypocrisy so ubiquitous in modern spirituality, like Kumare, and others go more in-depth into the consequences of blind Guru worship, like Netflix’s Wild Wild Country.
But few documentary subjects are on par with the king of spiritual bypassing, materialist excess, and abuse of power: Bikram Choudhury. It’s shocking to see such behavior, and even more shocking to know it’s still going on, making Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator worth a watch.
7. Best Indigenous Medicine: Embrace of the Serpent
If you’re looking for a movie or documentary that goes deep into the Amazon jungle or Siberian terrain, one that explores indigenous cultures, shamanism, or plant medicine, your options are few and far between. I’ve only found a few that were worth watching, so if you know of more, post it in the comments below.
Most documentaries out there focus on white Westerners going on a bit of ayahuasca tourism. There is Raz Degan’s The Last Shaman and Aubrey Marcus’s sister documentaries, Ayahuasca and Huacuma, as well as The Sacred Science.
Fortunately there’s one movie that is simply a cut above the rest, and that is Ciro Guerra’s Embrace of the Serpent. It’s visually impressive, treats its subject matters delicately and authentically, and also explores how Western Imperialism has destroyed the way of life of so many indigenous cultures.
8. Best “Hollywood Looks for Wisdom”: Kundun
Every few years the producers at Hollywood send their A-list actors across the world to get find enlightenment. Bill Murray went to the Himalayas in The Razor’s Edge (1984), Brad Pitt spent Seven Years in Tibet (1977), Keanu Reeves played Prince Siddartha in Little Buddha (1994), Ben Kingsley became Gandhi in 1982, and you might even include Martin Sheen in The Way (2010) or Julia Roberts in Eat, Pray, Love (2010).
But my vote goes for another hidden gem you might have long forgotten, directed by no-one-other-than Martin Scorsese AND scored by Philip Glass: Kundun. The film goes into the early life of the Dalai Lama and also covers the Chinese Cultural revolution and occupation of Tibet.
9. Best New Age: Inner Worlds, Outer Worlds
If your spirituality includes a lot more crystals, sacred geometry, and essential oils than the average person, you might be looking for a more new-agey film to align your chakras.
There’s a number of notable films that fit this category, including the rather popular What the Bleep Do We Know!? and DMT: The Spirit Molecule, there’s also a short documentary on The Secret Life of Water.
But I’m going to point you towards the Awaken the World project, which is the home of the enlightening series Samadhi, and my personal recommendation, Inner Worlds, Outer Worlds. And best of all, they’re all free.
So readers, what movies did I forget? What documentaries do you recommend to tall your friends that aren’t a part of this list? Let me know with a comment below.
