Review of film: “THE HUMAN BODY” in Omnimax at the MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & INDUSTRY, Chicago

2009, 11-07:

Review of film:  “THE HUMAN BODY”  at the MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & INDUSTRY, Chicago 

Director:

Peter Georgi

Writer:

Richard Dale

Starring:

Heather Pike

Buster Pike

Zannah Lawrence

Luke Brinkers

MY Rating: 

Rating:  8.5 of 10 stars  (a 40-minute documentary, as seen in OMNIMAX).

                            Amazing journey of (Very) Personal Discovery

            …  After the “You!” exhibit, I went to see one of the two new OMNIMAX films at the MSI--  “THE HUMAN BODY” (done by the BBC).  It uses amazingly detailed microscope enlargements, cameras, cgi, etc. to highlite what happens inside our body as we grow, when we exercise, listen to loud music, eat a meal, have a baby, and so on:

                         … There are loads of mind-blowing facts described & shown (& they were spoken of so briskly, I may have gotten some of my notations erroneous at times):  how our body creates 2 million new red blood cells every minute;  how the BRAIN uses about 20% of all the energy produced by our body;  examples of how the body gives off heat (when riding a bicycle--  which is wonderful for helping blood flow thru our body, etc.);  how the fragile bones in our ears stop growing in size when we’re a baby, etc.

                                  …  In this film, you can see how certain of our physical elements reach their peak by the time we become teenagers;  how babies crawl over 60 miles in their first few years of life;  how scientists have recently found that babies have a special “DIVING reflex” wherein their bodies automatically stop them from trying to breathe when under water, & they have a natural swimming coordination between their arms & legs (kicking, etc.) when in the water…

                                     …  The film shows (in fantastic detail) what happens to food after we eat it:  how our body drives it down our esophagus at 2” per second, how it extracts nourishment we need from the food, etc.);  & how hair can grow at an overall rate of 30 yards every 24 hours…

                                            …  Also, how the female egg is the largest cell in the human body & how it’s fertilized;  the remarkable mechanical working of our heart;  how oxygen is absorbed into our bloodstream;  how puberty is driven by powerful hormones that can often create “turmoil” (including, as one boy in the movie put it, how he had a “zit” that was “the size of UTAH!”);  etc.

                                    …  This movie uses various techniques to better illustrate things about our body--  X-rays, heat sensors, seemingly-moving “mini” cameras, ultrasound (showing a baby in the womb), personal discussions, etc.  It’s an unusually well-done & informative film.

  (o_
   /\ 

= = =         …  ( <>  ^  <> )  ...