What the Bleep Do We (K)now!? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Marlee Matlin

Matlin won in 1987 for "Children of a Lesser God". Matlin plays a young woman who is recovering from a divorce after she discovered her husband cheating. She serves as a guide for the film, trying to grasp the various theories about both how the human brain works and the very nature of reality as the film goes along. Elaine Hendrix plays her crazy artist roommate, Jennifer.

Answer: Photographer

Amanda is a photographer, who seems to be highly skilled but not very successful professionally. She works as a free-lancer for an agency, where her boss is played by Barry Newman. Early in the film, she is trying to take portraits at the train station, but nobody seems to be buying.

Answer: Arawak Shaman

Amanda has a vision of a Native American shaman during the discussion of visualization. The shaman was the first one to figure out what the boats of Columbus actually were, and once he saw them, everyone else could too. Psychologists have done numerous studies on perception, and it is amazing what people will overlook.

Answer: Basketball

She is playing on Duke Reginald's court, tossing around a basketball. This allows for a discussion of quantum superposition, the idea that atoms occupy multiple places at the same time until they are observed. Once things are observed, they snap into one position. Which means you might not be where you think you are if nobody is actually looking at you. Robert Bailey, Jr plays Reggie.

Answer: Wedding Reception

The animated chemicals show up at the wedding reception, which is the funniest part of the film. It includes horny high school boys, lusty couples and a very drunk Amanda. The animated brain chemicals sing "Addicted to Love" by Robert Palmer. The film explores how emotions are chemically-driven.

Answer: Movie Theater

She is in the lobby of the movie theater. Amanda is both a universal observer, and being observed, either alone or with a date. The film explores the possibility of multiple realities existing simultaneously and "reality" only becoming real from the perspective of the person observing it.

Answer: water

The film discusses the work of Doctor Masaru Emoto, a Japanese author who has written on the power of thought to change the molecular structure of water. Most physicists view Emoto's work as pseudo-science, as experiments have failed to replicate this claim.

Answer: Anxiety Medication

Amanda has been taking anti-anxiety pills throughout the film, and decides at the end that she doesn't need them anymore. She does toss a basketball at the end, but she is not near the river. If you want to see someone toss a badge away, you'll have to watch "Dirty Harry" (1971).

Answer: Portland, Oregon

The film was shot in Portland, Oregon on a very small production budget. The Polish wedding scene was shot at St. Patrick's Catholic Church. Some of the interviews were done at the University of Washington, which is in Seattle, and another was done in San Francisco. "What the Bleep Do We Know?" was basically an art house film. At its peak in late 2004, it was on 146 screens. The film also received an international run, playing in much of Europe, Japan and Brazil. During its initial run (2004-2005), it earned almost $16 million.

Answer: Geology

The film includes numerous physicists, as well as several chemists and MDs. They discuss both the nature of reality at a quantum level and how the brain processes the world at a chemical level. Geology gets no mention in "What the Bleep Do We
Know?". Maybe geologists have a firmer understanding of reality than quantum physicists.