"You're right. Maybe I am in the wrong century," Albert Schweitzer ponders in the midst of this biopic.
"Ah, no, Dr. Schweitzer," I would reply, "it is the century that is listening to the wrong voices."
In 2001, I decided that trying to bring the Good Doctor's deep humanitarianism and wisdom back to the forefront of humanity's consciousness would be a worthy effort for the new millennium. So I wrote a play about him, convinced that humanity urgently needs to hear again his enlightened voice.
I still believe that and urge you to watch this well-produced film as an easy introduction to or reminder of a man who embodied "reverence for life," the most accessible touchstone of his philosophy.
But the film does miss important subtleties. Among them are that the German word for reverence -- ehrfurcht -- also means "awe." Dr. Schweitzer was indeed making the crucial case for each of us to embrace the immense gift of life and to act to honor and preserve it, for all sentient beings, everywhere, every day.
~ Tony Balis
