Act of God

2009

1h 15m

Documentary

List

65%

Tomatometer

17 Reviews

20%

Audience Score

250+ Ratings

Survivors of lightning strikes from around the world offer their stories and reflections.

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Chris Chang

Film Comment Magazine

[Jennifer] Baichwal's point of view is not religious; in fact, the strength and beauty of her project resides in its stubborn insistence on agnostic fuzziness.

Sep 24, 2014

Full Review

David Fear

Time Out

Rated: 4/5

Nov 18, 2011

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Ben Kenigsberg

Time Out

Rated: 2/5

Nov 17, 2011

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Mattie Lucas

From the Front Row

There's plenty of awe to go around, be it religious, scientific, or both, but Act of God remains stubbornly stuck in the world of abstract mysticism.

Rated: 1.5/4

Aug 5, 2019

Full Review

Dorothy Woodend

The Tyee (British Columbia)

For a documentary that's ostensibly about people being struck by lightning, it's a quiet and deeply philosophical treatise, filled with subtle grace and mortal agonies, often occurring side by side.

Aug 22, 2017

Full Review

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Spirituality & Practice

An alluring documentary about the shocking power and mystery of lightning in human experience.

Rated: 3/5

Jan 27, 2010

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Audience Member

This arty documentary film tries to use the act of being struck by lightning as a metaphor for the role of chance and randomness in life, but is not wholly successful. There are seven separate stories here, but only two of them are woven throughout the length of the film. Each story is told by those who participated in them, but the editing sometimes makes it difficult to grasp the flow of each tale. One of the segments is about an improvisational guitarist who has his brainwaves mapped while playing. He was not struck by lightning, but we are meant to draw parallels between his brain activity and the randomness of lightning. The movie allows its subjects to tell their stories in their own way and does not try to impose an over-arching narrative on them. It is ambitious and thoughtful, with some gorgeous time-lapse storm scenes, but in the end, it fails to leave behind much of an impression (much like lightning itself, in fact).

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/29/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Definitely not what I was expecting. Wandering, aimless and directionless film. Gets so sidetracked that you pretty much forget what the movie is supposed to be about in the first place. Contains no real information about lightning, as I didn't learn a damn thing the whole time. So philosophical that it really looses any semblance of an educational or informative film. Its lightning photography are extremely impressive, and the last 10 minutes in which a lightning strike survivor recites his absolutely harrowing story is the highlight of the film. Other than that, I can't say this is worth anyone's time.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/19/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Slow, painful, and plodding. The director draws a link between religion and people who are struck by lightning. I'm not sure that he had a hypothesis or was waiting for the audience to find meaning in the seemingly unrelated anecdotes in the film. It would have been better if it had just been 90 minutes of lightning-strike footage.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

02/13/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Definitely not what I was expecting. Wandering, aimless and directionless film. Gets so sidetracked that you pretty much forget what the movie is supposed to be about in the first place. Contains no real information about lightning, as I didn't learn a damn thing the whole time. So philosophical that it really looses any semblance of an educational or informative film. Its lightning photography are extremely impressive, and the last 10 minutes in which a lightning strike survivor recites his absolutely harrowing story is the highlight of the film. Other than that, I can't say this is worth anyone's time.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/23/23

Full Review

walter m

"Act of God" is a moderately interesting documentary that seeks to explore the differences in faith and science by talking to people who have been struck by lightning.(That's not to mention the museum in France devoted to lightning strikes.) They discuss how their lives have been changed, maybe not so much in a physical manner, but in a spiritual way. While some question why they survived and others did not, others had something along the lines of a near death experience. And as in anything, there are no easy answers.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Even though there were some cool pictures and videos of storm, even though there were some tragic stories about the storms and lighting itself and even though the subject matter could be very interesting, it was presented in a way that would make almost go to sleep. The science that they used to explain the storms or the effects on the brain anyways was very limited and pretty much for the whole part, this documentary did not keep my interest.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

Full Review

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Jennifer Baichwal

Director

Nick de Pencier

Producer

Daniel Iron

Producer

Jennifer Baichwal

Producer

Nick de Pencier

Cinematographer

Roland Schlimme

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Synopsis

Survivors of lightning strikes from around the world offer their stories and reflections.

Director: Jennifer Baichwal
Production Co: Karma Pictures, Giant Films, Spectrum Media Entertainment
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 2, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $9.9K
Runtime: 1h 15m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital

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