I Am

I Am (2011) is a documentary you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Tom Shadyac — the Hollywood filmmaker behind Ace Ventura, Liar Liar, and Bruce Almighty. After a cycling accident left him bedridden for months and facing permanent injury, Shadyac sold his mansions and picked up a small camera to ask two questions: what is wrong with our world, and what can any of us actually do about it.

His conversations range from Noam Chomsky and Archbishop Desmond Tutu to historian Howard Zinn. Shadyac doesn't lecture — he shows up as the one who doesn't have the answers yet, which makes the film considerably harder to dismiss than a standard social documentary. What gives it weight is the personal wreckage that prompted the whole journey: a man who had everything the culture promised, got hurt, and came out the other side unconvinced it was worth having. Stream I Am (2011) online on iFILM.