“Enlighten Up” is the natural by-product of Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock’s brand of docu-reality.
The indie feature, in select theaters now, tracks a yoga skeptic pushed by the film’s director to discover the exercise’s spiritual side.
It’s got Spurlock’s personal touch and Moore’s whimsical stylings. If you’re gonna crib from the lefty filmmakers, documentarian Kate Churchill picked the right elements for inspiration.
The film follows Nick, a handsome 29-year-old who serves himself up as a test case for Churchill’s belief that yoga can expand the mind, not just tone the tummy.
So Nick travels near (NYC) and far (India) to practice with yoga experts, all in the hopes he’ll emerge enlightened. Some instructors treat yoga as an excuse to get pretty girls into flimsy attire, like former wrestler turned “regular guy” yoga teacher Diamond Dallas Page.
Others, including the older yoga experts Nick interviews from India, insist yoga be practiced along with a deep spiritual component.
The teachers in between are the most intriguing. They lean on yoga to round out their lives, and it’s hard not to be alarmed at the weight they place on each pose, or asana.
Nick, dubbed a “skeptic” because he works as a journalist, is as open minded as any yoga novice could be. Audiences will appreciate his candor and good spirits, and like Spurlock before him those spirits elevate the material.
But he can’t enlighten fast enough for Churchill. Their exchanges give the film a tangible friction, but that drama evaporates as Nick heads off to an extended trip to India.
Churchill, a yoga devotee who clearly hopes to create a disciple out of her subject, is the occasionally bullying force behind the narrative. But her zeal betrays her filmmaking instincts, since the last 20 minutes offer little in the way of resolution – let alone enlightenment.
Frankly, the film could have dovetailed into why most yoga enthusiasts feel the need to graft spirituality onto an exercise that works perfectly well as a timeless mind-body connection.
“Enlighten Up!” will intrigue anyone who ever felt the burn, or the tranquility, from a yoga session. Everyone else may still view yoga from a distance.
(Photo: Nick Rosen, left, isn’t nearly as flexible as some of the yoga disciples he practices with in “Enlighten Up!”)
Related posts:
on 
on 
on 
on 
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Because yoga without the spirituality is pilates?
Good article, other than the uninformed jab at Dallas Page who has used his form of Yoga to change a lot of lives and get guys who otherwise wouldn’t consider doing yoga to give it a shot.
Mmmmmmm . . . . Endorphins.
Robert,
I’ll have to dig into Dallas Page’s yoga work … the movie depicts his take on yoga as being superficial. It’s a comedic segment of the film, but the impression viewers get is that there’s a T&A component to his philosophy. Thanks for sharing a bit more info on his work. Exactly why a comments section on a film review can be helpful.