The Science is Personal
Where neither archival footage nor family photos are available, Seeger captures significant moments in Kandel's life and memory -- those of his childhood, in particular -- through impressionistic reenactments, always sensitively achieved. These connect us to the scientist's psyche, and he actually says that his rekindling of childhood memories is his form of psychoanalysis.
Seeger also allows us to spend time with Kandel as he shares his knowledge with students and with audiences who attend the lectures he presents in libraries, synagogues and other venues. The lectures are about memory and about life. "Memory is," as Kandel comments, "everything. Without it we are nothing." He further explains that memory is the base function required for all knowledge, that it is the glue that holds our thoughts together and allows us to reason, understand, problem solve and communicate.
Now in his eighties, Kandel illuminates the screen with his humor, sincerity, humility and smarts.
The film also takes us into Kandel's lab where we meet the students he's inspired. It provides us with the rare opportunity to peek through microscopes at actual nerve cells and it shows us graphic representations of the formation of memory. It is, in a word, fascinating. And it is completely understandable for laymen.
If You Like This Film, You May Also Like:
- Blessed Is The Match
- Steal A Pencil For Me
- The Beaches of Agnes
- The Lobotomist
- Waltz With Bashir
- The Alzheimers Project
Film Details:
- Title: In Search of Memory
- Director: Petra Seeger
- Release Date: June 25, 2009 (in Germany)
- Running Time: 95 mins.
- Parents Advisory: Advisory for content
- Location: New York, Vienna, Paris and other locations
- Language: English, German, Yiddish, French
- Distribution Company: Icarus Films
- Trailer
