In the lead up to the 7th Canadian Film Festival in Australia (August 2012), join us as we countdown the Top 100 Canadian Films of the past 30 years. We'll be posting one film a day leading up to Canada Day on July 1st 2012. Do you agree with our team favourites? Let us know your thoughts!
#49 – Examined Life 
Examined Life is a documentary by Astra Taylor featuring eight influential contemporary philosophers travelling through cities discussing their ideas and how they relate to modern culture.
Taylor’s assembled an impressive list of intellectual talent, with Cornel West, Slavoj Žižek, Judith Butler, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Michael Hardt, Martha Nussbaum, Avital Ronell, Peter Singer and Sunaura Taylor.
As Taylor points out, while philosophy in its written form allows a single concept to be explored in great depth, her challenge was that the film form gives her only 80 minutes to convey these ideas, and she gives only 10 minutes to each speaker.
To add context to their theories, each philosopher has been filmed in surroundings that, in one way or another, relate to, express or inspire their ideas. For instance, Singer talks about morality and affluence as he walks past the high end shops on Fifth Avenue in New York, while Appiah discusses cosmopolitanism with Toronto’s International Airport as the back drop.
Having the speakers situated in this way firmly places them in the culture that feeds into their ideas and the space where those ideas are put back into action, breathing life into both the ideas and the film.
While dense at times, it is incredibly interesting to have the chance to actually hear these amazing people speak; as Taylor points out, her reason for making the documentary was that philosophy is typically written and, in her attempt to break it out of the ‘ivory tower’ and into the world in which the ideas are embedded, she also wants to give it a voice. She does this literally and very successfully.
- Karina Libbey
Examined Life screened at Possible Worlds in 2009
“A fascinating introduction to the big issues in modern philosophy, presented with a pleasantly light touch” - Film4
To see the other films in the countdown so far, click here.