David Wants to Fly (2010) User Reviews

The clashing of collective shadows

[phosie-943-377317 · 7/10 · 27 September 2020]

Sieveking's struggle and goal was to produce thrillingly "cryptic, abysmal" movies just like his big idol David Lynch. With this documentary he found his abyss within the TM Organisation and its members - their denial, secrecy and dubious projects.

In a way it's maybe the most lynchian film I've ever seen. Starring Lynch himself who probably didn't want to appear in it and even wanted to sue the director! It can't get more absurd than that and I really love it. In his quest of becoming like his idol, Sieveking got to meet and subsequently rejected and even threatened with a sue by him... I just love the irony and poignancy of that. At first I wasn't sure about it, but ultimately I liked that he showed intimate scenes from his private life. It all was very "real" and raw. It's not just about TM and the harsh, dark side of spiritual business but also his personal spiritual seeking - while in the beginning he is motivated mainly by wanting to get creative ideas for movies he later on seems to develop a more serious interest in "enlightenment", liberation, and how it can be achieved.

I admired both the courage but also innocence and openness with which the director approached this documentary and his quest. He seemed to genuinely want to give TM a serious try and he did. I think he was pretty fair in his investigation and the things he disclosed and that the threat to sue he reiceved was absolutely unwarranted.

It's a difficult subject really because I'm convinced TM and meditation in general do bring about wonderful and potentially life changing benefits. However even the world of meditation and spirituality isn't as pure as you'd like to imagine. There are complications that come with propagating and wanting to spread such a technique on a very wide scale. You run into questions of business and money that can render the spiritual/practical side of it questionable and evoke the greedy egotistical side of humans. Before I never really understood the allegations of TM being a cult or scam but after having watched this I can comprehend it.

The Organisation, as becomes obvious very soon, isn't as pure in its intentions as it pretends to be. What's the functions of all those rajas, what are they needed for? Why the rivalry and distrust even among them? Why do you have to pay such absurdly high amounts of money to become one? Why is everyone so super secretive about everything? The aggression and rejection towards anybody who dares to question it or expose certain aspects of it really exposes its dubiosity and questionable hidden agenda. Also some details and dark secrets about Maharishi himself are disclosed by former devotees. The power struggles within the organisation that promotes world peace, huge amounts of donations that never got used properly, etc. Especially the statements of "Raja Emanuel" later on and how Lynch defended him were interesting and baffling!

Perhaps this documentary really also in a way deals not only with the collective shadow of the TM Organisation but also that which especially many Germans still carry with them - the guilt, shame and resulting distrust, hypervigilance and scepsis of anything to do with "following" leaders, religions or organisations...

It seems that Lynch's secrecy is one of the main ingredients to the "abysses" in his movies... Which Sieveking seems to lack completely. I found his openness refreshing, but at times I thought he was a bit naive in his conception of enlightenment and world peace - it doesn't mean you won't face difficulties in life such as breaking up with your girlfriend f.e.

As a fan of Lynch myself I was a bit baffled and disappointed in his denial of the obvious shadow of this Organisation. Also I noticed he dodged and didn't clearly answer many of the questions. But I guess it's good to see that he's just a human with flaws, too.

It does seem that at the end the director and protagonist has come closer to finding his own path and way of expression. I think his seeking for truth and self expression wasn't in vain, even if much of the TM business remains a secret.

I personally would have been interested in a clear statement of him on TM and if he will keep practicing it. But I also like that he remains pretty neutral, just gives a glimpse into the reality and leaves the conclusions to the viewer.

Summary and a main question.

[tarekff · 6/10 · 7 January 2016]

Summary of the movie: People seek enlightenment, but follow deceitful gurus that care only about taking ones' money. The movements gurus use girls for sex and use men for their money then discard them, but ironically, still millions of dollars donated to him and people followed him. Also, one can learn that what a child believe in will stay with him/her to the end of his/her life. So individuals need to be careful about what their children learn. The main question one would think after the movie is: why people like to follow fake gurus blindly and why the followers of the right movements do not effectively attract seeking people?

excellent first effort from a promising young director

[logicbranch · 3 September 2011]

This documentary begins without much excitement: OK, so the recent film-school graduate admires the famous director David Lynch (his girlfriend accuses him of being obsessed) and since David Lynch likes and recommends transcendental meditation, the young man (the director) also gives TM a try. Just when I was asking myself why the director wasn't looking at TM with a more critical eye, things got very interesting. I don't want to give too much away, but eventually both David Lynch and the TM organization threaten to sue the young film-maker. And the whole thing got started because he was nuts about Lynch! There is also a sub-plot about his (the young director's) personal life which helps the viewer connect with the main character. This film is well worth viewing, especially for those who sometimes think about investigating more thoughtful, alternative approaches to life.

A refreshingly unpretentious film.

[uf36 · 9/10 · 19 March 2012]

A young director, who adores David Lynch, wants to learn transcendental meditation. He approaches TM with an unbiased naivety which is slightly shocking. But soon he detects more and more discrepancies in the TM organisation. The TM guys, including Mr Lynch, who at first were very cooperative, now want him to stop filming. When Sieveking begins to meet TM renegades, the organisation gets outright hostile. Lynch threatens to sue him. The film, however, stays pure record-keeping of events. And Sieveking turns to the source. He flies to India to visit the monastery where Marashiri learned his meditation. The successor of Marashiri's teacher says that Marashiri was a crook who had no right to teach meditation and sends Sieveking to the spring of the Ganges for enlightenment. Again, Sieveking does not challenge the words of the guru. The film takes the viewer on a journey. It's Sieveking's journey. Sieveking has not tried to edit the earlier material in the light of his later experiences. And exactly that is what makes this documentary so lively.

I did not like it for various reasons

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 30 May 2017]

"David Wants to Fly"is a documentary from 2010 that is partially in the German and partially in the English language. The writer and director here is David Sieveking. And in order to make sure we don't forget that, he also appears in this film from start to finish basically. This is also my biggest problem with this movie. I found it really unbearable how he was putting himself into the spotlight of this 95-minute documentary. What is the subject here? Well, it is not really clear. That even rhymes. Early on, we hear about the filmmakers' ambitions to go see a certain convention because his idol, filmmaker David Lynch, is also holding a speech there, but the longer the film goes the more it turns into a critical discussion on Transcendental Meditation and whether it is a profit organization or can actually bring enlightenment to people. Sieveking himself is seeking enlightenment in this film as well. I was actually close to giving it one star out of five and I can see why some people would. But eventually, I will be a bit more generous because there is some information on TM and I had never heard of them before, so it had a bit of an informative value for me. However, still the sequences with his girlfriend and her mother and this strange preparation where she sits in a tiny room and then the break-up between Sieveking and his girlfriend felt all so unauthentic, fake and staged. I have no doubt that a lot of it was scripted for sure for dramatic purposes in a film where the maker's relationship status has absolutely no business being a part of. I guess they wanted to make this look like a more personal approach with this film, but it all went wrong. Sieveking has a tendency for that also looking at the film he made about his mother later on, where I am sure that a lot besides the death was also scripted. Anyway, we will talk about that one on another occasion I guess. His work somewhat reminds me of the approach Werner Herzog is taking, but Herzog still manages to tell great stories and even if we see him too on many occasions in his many many works, you never get the impression that he wants to be in the center of it all, in an almost narcissist fashion. I give this one a thumbs-down and highly recommend not to check it out.

Misinterpretated Documentary , Lack Creativity and Baked Stories

[vvgg-18355 · 1/10 · 27 September 2021]

I have seen the documentary. Its an attempt to show only negatives of Transcedental Movements , especially to promote Semetic Ideas. All the activities, talks and interviews given by TM people are misinterpreted and show in a pecular way to show authors interest. Honestly not worth even a penny.

I am not a TM movement person but by watching the documenatry its quite clear its leaning to one side to damage its reputation, a kind of psycho approach.

Last part of film its showing an incomplete construction of Brhamastan before 2010 and portraying it as World Peace in a kidding way. The author has no commmon snse to understnd half way done constructed site to show as a complete one demoting TM.

90% of the stories are baked ones, with those out of TM. There is no proof howevers showing. Simply allegations. Grow up documentary maker. Spend time in making good creative videos than on this cheap tactics.

Maybe if you meditate long enough ...

[kosmasp · 5/10 · 7 August 2017]

Or was it medicate? Seriously though: With a lot of faux documentaries making their rounds, I had to check if they were making stuff up here. Because it wasn't really that entertaining as "Exit through the Gift shop" to name one of the best in recent history. But no the sect/cult/mediation group depicted in this actually really exists. And you may shocked by this, but they want your money.

I know right? But they offer you so much. Like enlightenment and probably immortality and you know other stuff you crave. Obvious comparisons to Scientology are at hand and there has been a documentary or two about them too. And quite a few good ones, I just recently watched one that really got into the jist of it. This one right here is not a bad effort, but it does feel like a school play. There's a moment where the girlfriend (or not) of the director/star of the movie says "they should not treat you like a film student". Which sounds like a valid point overall and is expressing frustration. Accidentally though it is also revealing. Because if you want to be treated a certain way, you also have to behave a certain way. Or have the charisma to carry out that, let's call it swagger.

Something our director here does not have in abundance. I'm not trying to be mean here by the way, just keeping it real. This documentary is bizarre to put it mildly and also fascinating to a degree. When it comes to its theme. Because mediation itself is a good thing. And that's one of the things the movie does seem to get right in the end ... pun intended