Room 237 Draws You Back Into Stanley Kubrick's Maze

Some movies stay with you forever...and ever...and ever. There is something profoundly remarkable about a film when it's over 30 years old and still has the ability to inspire speculation, debate, and continue to haunt us to this day. Room 237 is a documentary that explores the countless theories about the hidden meanings within Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film The Shining.













The documentary weaves together 5 different points of view through voice over, archive footage, film clips, animation, and reenactments. Different subjective theories are explored, including the holocaust, sexual (and incest) themes, the wipe out of the Native Americans, and the faking of the lunar landing, to name a few.

At the time of The Shining, Kubrick was fascinated with advertising and the idea of subliminal messaging. Many of the techniques found in advertisements, Kubrick implemented into the film. He became a master of subliminal messaging in cinema. Kubrick had an incredible eye for detail. Every detail is intentionally fixed into the film. Even the tiny minor details that seemingly slip past your conscience, have overflowing meaning. The Shining is like no other in this way and because of this, it continues to be analyzed and obsessed over to this day. Stanley Kubrick was a genius. A cinematic Einstein. Dissecting The Shining is like picking apart an Einstein equation. There are endless pieces to the equation. And as difficult it is to fathom, we know one thing; Every piece equals up to something.

In the end, what the film means is up to you, and everyone else. I think the most important aspect of the film is not objectively what it means but the power the film bestows upon us. The act of searching for themes, making profound connections, and exposing our minds to deeper meaning allows us to see reality through a higher level of awareness and enlightenment in our own lives.

Whether you are a Kubrick fan, a Shining fan, or just a fan of film in general, Room 237 will draw you into the twisting and winding maze of a brilliant movie and mind.

Chasing Ice: Big Ideas Big Visuals

Chasing Ice, a documentary that follows National Geographic environmental photographer and adventurer James Balog takes us on a breathtaking journey across the Arctic as he deploys time-lapse cameras to capture multi-year records of the ever changing glaciers. Balog's videos, composed of thousands of still images, compress years into seconds as they capture ancient ranges of ice melting right before our eyes. 

James Balog was once a skeptic about climate change, even with his scientific upbringing. With one trip north, and the visual evidence before him, it sparked an idea within him: The Extreme Ice Survey. With a team of young adventurers, Balog sets out across the Arctic landscapes of Greenland, Iceland, and Alaska to plant time-lapse cameras to record the melting glaciers. According to Balog, visual evidence of our changing planet is what people need, more so than the facts or statistics. 

The images are incredibly stunning. They truly capture the power and history of these massive forces of nature. And at the same time, I could feel a sort of serene sadness watching them. Some of the shots are other-worldy. They evoke a simplicity, a beginning of time, and a human-nature relationship. It reminds us that we humans depend on nature as much as nature depends on us.

There is no doubt that the Arctic is changing. You can see it plain and clear in Balog's videos.  I believe that teaching the world through the visual is extremely valuable. In such a visually enriched world, there's a growing need to see to believe. But as much as visual evidence is important, we need the facts too. We see the change, but what exactly is changing it? And more importantly, how do we stop it from changing?

Watch the Official Trailer:

Learn more about the film here