The Human Experience

I was looking for something to do last weekend, so I decided to go to a movie. For those of you that know me well, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. I like movies so much that if given the option of living in a movie house, it would be hard to say no. There is a documentary that has been generating a buzz called, “The Human Experience.” This was the film I chose to see.

This documentary follows two brothers, Jeff and Cliff Azize, who live in a halfway house in Brooklyn, NY. The brothers are trying to figure out who they are, and amongst other things, the meaning of life. To do this, the brothers decide to spend a week on the streets of New York City living with the homeless with no money. Jeff and Cliff also join a group of surfers and drive down to Peru where they help out at an orphanage working with disabled children. Their final adventure is traveling to the remote forests of Ghana to visit a leper colony.

The film left me with a lot of questions. Not so much about what I just saw, but if there was more I can do with my life. The answer is inevitably yes! What the brothers experience in their adventure changes their outlook on life and does go to answer some of their questions. I won’t spoil the film, as I hope many of you will seek out this excellent documentary, even if it is on DVD. I do recommend taking the family, although this may not be the best choice for young kids. This is not only a human experience, but also an educational and life experience as well. If you have seen this film, I’d love to discuss it with you. 

Quoting Roger Ebert and the late Gene Siskel, I give it two thumbs up!