An obsequious puff piece on Werner Erhard, the guru of the est training. They bring in Rick Ross for a few seconds to criticize the cult-like nature of some of his followers, and a SF Chronicle journalist who admits that they were fawning of the self-improvement groups.They save the bulk of the film for former est graduates who have doctorates to call Werner a "genius" and a world-changer.The best parts of the film involve former est trainer Randy McNamara who tells great stories. Also it is eye-opening to see how the Scientologists and media went after Erhard with false charges.How Werner dealt with such a blow to his reputation and career is inspiring, in spite of the puff-piece feeling of the movie. I left with a real sense of admiration for Mr. Erhard

Who's kidding whom? And why not just call it a tribute to Werner, as it is just another feeble attempt to salvage his reputation from the cultural scrap-heap. The inclusion of critics or criticism is just another pretense to appease the doubters who might seek a "balanced" or "inclusive" report on the sleazy self-help guru who "took the low road," by his own admission. It must just kill his worshipful fans that the world views their hero as a sneaky snake-oil salesman. I wonder if we are in for a reissue of "Today Is For The Championship," which was his own creation and attempt for entry into the film documentation of his triumphs as an adherent of his own philosophy and as a race-car driver. Now that might be interesting, if for no other reason than that it would provide evidence of the outer limits of his quirky uber-egotistical quests and dismal failure of his "technology" in the real world.

If you like(d) Werner, you will find this movie heartwarming and uplifting. If you hate(d) Werner, well, if you couldn't get off it then, you probably don't have the ability now. You will call it a whitewash, an infomercial, or worse. I'm sorry you didn't get it.If you didn't do est or the Forum, you will probably be baffled. Better to go directly to the Landmark Forum. It is the "civilized" version of est and more fun than a movie.If all you "know" about Werner is he yelled at unhappy people and was accused of abusing his daughter, etc., the ironclad resolution of all that stuff is not here.The commenter who suggested Werner was in trouble with the IRS should know that the IRS cleared him of all wrongdoing. Coming from the IRS, that's like an endorsement!

One of the many remarkable aspects of Transformation: The Life and Legacy of Werner Erhard is its unbiased approach. It pulls no punches. It hides no skeletons. It opens all closets and allows you free access with almost voyeuristic freedom and intensity to Werner's private, personal, and family life. It also has extensive coverage of Werner's work over the last thirty six years from the est training to his ideas which are the basis for the Landmark Forum. It features many figures who have worked with Werner over the years, celebrities who have participated in his work, and titans from established academia and the blue chip business world who have incorporated Werner's ideas into their methodologies with enormous yet unheralded impact.But the microscope here, the scrutiny of the project, is on Werner Erhard himself. And a question I asked myself as I watched is this: Will it work? Will it create an open, evenhanded forum in which Werner's magnum opus and its current form such as it exists in the world today, can be evaluated? Or will this approach backfire and fry its subject, like an ant caught by a child unceremoniously in the sun's intensity focused through a magnifying glass? It's an approach which takes brass and boldness, and could quickly devolve into a total fiasco. This isn't a feel good hymn to a man who has in transformation created, some say, the most powerful experience of their lives, and for others is nothing less than a slick snake oil salestype charlatan who's simply in it for the money. This is documentary film making at it's best. The depths it probes of simple human foibles as well as sheer heroism are arduous to take in at times. Two mantras meandered through my mind as I watched, not knowing what to expect next, fascinated. The first was: "He who is without sin cast the first stone". The second was: "There but for the grace of God go I". It's riveting viewing which is sure to be as controversial as it is brilliant.The fire is held unflinchingly to the soles of Werner Erhard's life and work. The unspoken questions the movie poses are quite clear. Is what was said about Werner Erhard on 60 Minutes true? If not, why wasn't it ever fully recanted? Why did Werner Erhard leave the USA? What's he up to these days? And, arguably the most poignant question, what's the validity of Werner Erhard's work and legacy today and for the future if even some small fraction of what's been said about him in the full frontal attack were true? There's an interesting moment in the film when a noted San Francisco Chronicle reporter confesses to and addresses what we all know: the media delights in making heroes, and then delights equally in crucifying them. Open season. No hunting license required.What's also interesting is how the film poses questions without fully answering them. This is not an oversight. It's deliberate. You're left with no choice but to come to your own conclusions based on coverage of Werner's work bringing the possibility of transformation to the religious deadlocked conflicts in northern Ireland and the Middle East, to Madison Avenue advertising, to mainstream business, and to the political arena. Werner's work is now, as he promised when he started it in 1971, melded and merged with where we come from in our thinking and principles today in these key areas of life. While no attempt is made by the producer to credit Werner with this enormous impact, Robyn Symon leaves you making up your own mind whether or not this legacy is authentic. You're left to decide for yourself whether or not what's been absorbed by colleges, business schools, and corporate management teams et al are indeed the results of ideas derived by Werner and made available through his seminars. No claim is made by Werner that this is true. And yet clearly the odds against it not being true are extremely high. Mainstream technology and terminology like this doesn't simply arise by coincidence or by accident. One hundred monkeys bouncing around on one hundred typewriters for thirty six years will not write Macbeth.It would have been too easy for the producer to find people who would only say great things about Werner Erhard. But to her credit, Robyn Symon gives free rein and total access to some of Werner's harshest critics. This, I thought, is the mettle of Robyn Symon. Committed as she is to a true documentary, she doesn't simply provide one side of the story. Far from it. It's oddly difficult to watch the hospitality and grace with which she gives a platform to those who would totally negate Werner's contribution to humanity. You watch, fascinated, as his harshest critics get to speak, are never interrupted, are well lit, and are shown in their best possible light - a favor they themselves have denied Werner on so many occasions. Again, you're left to make up your own mind.Essentially what Robyn Symon presents us with, over and over and over, is the humanity of Werner Erhard, and you get to decide: Are the foibles of his life simply the results of a colossal ego run amok? Or are they the results of carefully made priorities and choices when, given the limit of twenty four hours only in every day, we each have to choose what our lives will be about? In watching Transformation: The Life and Legacy of Werner Erhard, you get to be with Werner and to stand with him intimately in soul baring nakedness as he speaks candidly about his choices, his failures, and his successes. The truth isn't always palatable - not Werner's, not yours, not mine. Especially not mine. Yet in the space of Werner's bone numbing heroic honesty, transformation comes. It moved me to tears.See this film. And bring your friends.Ten stars.http://laurenceplatt.home.att.net/wernererhard