Seeking to remind filmgoers of our shared humanity

"We were actually reading the instruction book for the camera while conducting our interviews," says Ward M. Powers, very novice director of "One: The Movie."

Powers is not the first amateur filmmaker to fumble his way through a documentary. But his accommodating interviewees include some of the leading spiritual figures, writers and teachers of our time, among them Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, a sheikh of the Naqshandi Sufi Order; Thich Nhat Hahn, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk and author of "The Miracle of Mindfulness"; and Thomas Keating, a Trappist monk who instructs in the contemplative prayer tradition.

Powers, a 48-year-old Michigan trial lawyer, and his wife, Diane, a community activist, were reflecting in 2002 on the divisiveness of the world after Sept. 11.

Powers says he awoke one day with a strong impulse to make a film about that which unites humanity.

"I was comfortable with my law practice and family," says Powers, a father of three. "I wondered, should I just duck my head while everything is fragmenting? My wife and I asked ourselves, how can we help remind the world that it is really one?"

Diane signed on as co-producer, and Powers enlisted his equally inexperienced cousin, Chad Munce, and best friend, Scott Carter. They bought a video camera and learned on the job.

Powers says his first notion was to compile a list of life's big questions — about destiny, our purpose in the universe, death — and conduct street interviews with ordinary people.

Director interview: Ward M. Powers

"One" astutely incorporates some of that material, statements ranging from casual cruelty to jazzy illumination. But Powers quickly realized that approach would not be sufficient and contacted Keating, Deepak Chopra, Ram Dass and numerous other spiritual leaders, most of whom agreed to speak on camera.

One who didn't, philosopher-psychologist Ken Wilber, a pioneer in integrating mysticism and science, nevertheless helped Powers set the film's tone.

"He gave us a butt-kicking," Powers says. "He got us past a simplistic vision of oneness and said most people see the world in dualistic terms — 'me' and the 'other,' or 'me' in this world, 'God' somewhere else.

"He said, find the voice in each person's head in the audience and go one above it. That helped us give the film its evolving, spiral shape, gradually leading from dualism to compassion to living in the present moment to the meaning of life to who is God to oneness."

"One: The Movie" is currently without a distributor; its fortunes in Seattle will be key to its future.

Powers will be at "One's" opening tonight, though he previously witnessed a Seattle audience's strong reaction at a screening and was stirred by the response to a deeply moving statement by Keating.

"I could see a collective gasp," says Powers. "If this film only plays one night here and there, so be it. Whatever happens is better than if it had never happened."

Tom Keogh: tomwkeogh@yahoo.com