Michael M. Conti
⭐ 10/10
January 27, 2026
By Dena Miller
[email protected]
> 'Oh, these vast, calm, measureless mountain days, days in whose light
> everything seems equally divine, opening a thousand windows to show us
> God," said John Muir, the Scottish-American who founded the Sierra Club and
> was affectionately known as "John of the Mountains" while widely hailed as
> the "Father of the National Parks."
>
For those of us who live at the foot of the southern Sangre de …
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By Dena Miller
[email protected]
> 'Oh, these vast, calm, measureless mountain days, days in whose light
> everything seems equally divine, opening a thousand windows to show us
> God," said John Muir, the Scottish-American who founded the Sierra Club and
> was affectionately known as "John of the Mountains" while widely hailed as
> the "Father of the National Parks."
>
For those of us who live at the foot of the southern Sangre de Cristos, who
would disagree with Muir when each morning we're greeted by Pueblo Peak
towering over us in its wintry magnicence? Who would disagree with him
after an exhilarating day on the slopes of Taos Ski Valley? Our mountains are
indeed woven into the fabric of our lives, perhaps more than we even realize.
Independent lmmaker Michael Conti will be in town with his latest
documentary, which stands as both an afrmation of our good fortune and a
reminder for us to heed our connectivity to the bounty of nature surrounding
us.
"The Unruly Mystic: John Muir" will be screened Saturday (Jan. 26), 7 p.m., at
the Taos Community Auditorium, 145 Paseo del Pueblo Norte. It will be
followed by a discussion with the lmmaker during which he will encourage
audience members to share their reactions. "This is an experiential event and an antidote of goodness,
not a focus on despair," Conti said. "If you're open, it's meant to trigger positivity and hope,
and I appreciate hearing how people relate to what they see."
Against a backdrop of some of North America's most exquisite scenery, the
documentary delves into the many ways in which being outside in nature
proves to be remarkably transformative to our psyches and our souls. To make
its case, the lm is generously peppered with an array of commentary from
the communities of the divine, the Zen and the Native American. World-class
psychiatrists, therapists, theologians, writers and everyday people discuss
their personal relationship with nature and its metamorphic effect in their
lives.
"There is a spiritual path when you live in the mountains," said Shelton
Johnson, park ranger at Yosemite National Park, which Muir helped lobby to
create in 1890. "The closest things to heaven are the mountaintops."
President Barack Obama said in a June 2016 visit to the park, "It changes you
by being here [in Yosemite]. There's something sacred about this place."
Those who have had the privilege of visiting Yosemite can't help but leave
the park moved by the experience. With the shadows of El Capitan and Half
Dome stretching across Yosemite Valley, and with baptism by the mist of
Yosemite Falls, one realizes that we are of the earth, and the earth is of us.
Addressing this communion and among the lm's commentators is Jim
Lengerich, Spiritual Care Counselor at Golden Willow Retreat here in Taos. His
training with indigenous elders, shamans and medicine people from North,
Central and South America has afforded him the opportunity to assist his
clients in awakening to a deeper sense of connection to themselves, nature
and the world at large.
Sit in silence in the wilderness, he recommends in the lm, with nothing but
the clothes you wear. Allow the currents of nature to pass through you. You
will, he assures, return to your life in a better place.
Cody Mirabal speaks in the lm of the Native spiritual connections that
surrounded him as he grew up at Taos Pueblo. Ancient environmental wisdom
and an abiding belief in the Great Spirit of Mother Earth are inexorably woven
into him and his family. "We pray at the river; we pray to trees, rocks, the mountain: everything on the
land," Mirabal said.
The Colorado-based Conti, who wrote, directed and produced the
documentary, has felt a lifelong connection to the mountains, which he said
made him Zen with himself. Of his childhood spent largely in the state, he
noted, "I'm fortunate that nature's been my constant companion."
Conti spent over three decades in the Hollywood mainstream and, according
to imdb.com, is "known internationally and has been screened at the eighth
International Hildegard Congress 2014, The Emerging Filmmakers Project,
Moondance International Film Festival, Trigger Street, ManiaTV!,
Amazon/Tribeca Online Film Festival, The Red Reel, Loveland's Independent
Filmmakers Showcase, Colorado Chautauqua Association Forum Series and at
Denver's Starz FilmCenter through Group101 Films Colorado."
Despite the acclaim, his spiritually inspiring documentaries are where he now
seems to be most at home. He wrote "The Unruly Mystic: John Muir" for the
IMAX theater but decided instead its personal content was better told in his
independent format.
"I felt that John Muir was calling me and I wanted to explore that," he said. In
his lm, then, free of commercial constraints, Conti was able to explore "the
remarkable life and inuential works of a patron saint of environmental
activism [and] discuss the connection of nature and spirituality, using his life
and wisdom."
Having previously produced "The Unruly Mystic: Saint Hildegard," he is busy
working on the third installment of the series.
"There is an enormous connection between spirituality and curiosity where, in
science, the question is always more fascinating than the answer," Conti said.
His next unruly mystic will be Albert Einstein.
In celebration of Muir and his predilection for the glorious national park,
Conti has arranged a private screening in April for those who are struggling to
maintain the integrity of Yosemite under its present difculties. "Thank you
for representing the work we do so well," said park ranger Johnson to the
filmmaker.
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