Review of the Movie “The Secret” in Book and DVD
Created by Rhonda Byrne
Everyone wants to know the secret of success and riches beyond their dreams.
There plenty of self-help books
and DVDs out there; so why is there still a market for “The Secret” movie and book?
Since Dale Carnegie penned “How to Win Friends and Influence People” in 1936, these seemingly simple
guidelines have been re-presented in a broad range of styles by various authors.
Among the most successful
are authors like Napoleon Hill whose “Law of Success” and “Napoleon Hill’s Keys to Success:
The 17 Principles of Personal Achievement” seem to have resonated more than most with the reading public.
Many people may view the concept and movie “The Secret” as yet another gift-wrapped, candy-coated,
positive-thinking-will-bring-you-everything diatribe but it may surprise you. Here, Rhonda Byrne brings together
threads of these success guidelines from a wide variety of sources not previously recognized. She has delved
back through the centuries and has discovered evidence in oral story-telling, literature, philosophy and
religion to confirm that these are timeless truths. She proclaims that respected historical characters from
Plato to Shakespeare understood these fundamental truths.
Her book has a companion DVD also called “The Secret”. In this she uses talking heads to deliver
sound-bites from the book to the camera. This alternative medium is an attempt to make the messages more
palatable to a 21st Century audience. It’s an acceptance that, regardless of how logical the secrets actually
are, these points are not easily taken on board.
From my own experience in coaching and counseling, books and movies like this one are only part of the program.
The DVD “The
Secret” acts as a very effective finger-post. It shows the way to go but does not, by itself, change
behavior. It’s a bit like telling your kids, “In my day we used to respect adults.” and then expecting
radical change to happen.
“The Secret” DVD is a feature length film and deals with the principles of attraction, visualization
and the right that we all have to become what we dream. These concepts are familiar to students of Neurolinguistic
Programming (NLP) but can be difficult for others to believe. They see them as airy-fairy and unrealistic.
Interestingly, Byrne’s own story is a case study in using the power available through using the tenets of “The
Secret”. While she was in the pre-production stages, she knew what she needed to make “The Secret” but
she was unsure of how to get the right people together to make it happen. By using the straightforward application
of attraction ideals, the most appropriate people began to appear to make “The Secret” what it
is today.
Although “The Secret” is available on DVD as a feature-length movie, it can also be bought as a
download using ground-breaking technology that produces a TV quality images on your computer. Byrne is obviously
doing everything she can to spread the word.
It seems to be one of the secrets that no matter how many formats and versions of “How to be Successful” there
are you still may not connect with the total available audience. There are plenty to choose from including” Your
Road Map for Success” by John C. Maxwell, ” The Success Principles” by Jack Canfield and Janet
Switzer and “Success Classics” by Tom Butler-Bowdon to name a few.
In the movie “The Secret” (available in book and DVD), Rhonda Byrne has produced an eminently readable
book and an inspirational film that will have you asking serious questions about yourself. If you stay the
course, you are guaranteed to start thinking along new lines.
Skeptical about The Secret?
Listen as Bob Doyle, one of the people in the movie, responds to criticisms about The Secret in a new podcast.
Reviewed by Mike Kay
