Produced by Prime Time Productions, The Secret is a feature length film showcasing the tenets of the New Thought movement via a number of interconnected vignettes focusing on ?The Law of Attraction.? Acted tidbits of drama intermingle with sit-down interviews to drive home the points made in the film. Although originally billed as a self-help aid, The Secret soon began to draw heavy criticism and the producers found themselves under fire from a variety of different sources.

Making the circuit of the media greats, the film's participants were soon featured during publicity campaigns with Oprah Winfrey, Larry King and Montel Williams. Using its dramatic presentation, The Secret showcases that ?The Law of Attraction? has great bearing on everyday life, and thus the actual secret that is revealed is the applicability of this law. To demonstrate the veracity of this century old claim, the producers enlisted the help of spiritual experts, personal coaches, master of the art of feng shui, and also motivational and moneymaking experts.

The goal of The Secret is to sound the alert that a person's feelings and thought patterns indeed attract tangible results. While this may be a simplistic explanation of ?The Law of Attraction,? the film attempts to show this law in action to those who might never have been exposed to it before. While it does not matter if an individual understands this law or even believes in it, the film asserts that her or his emotional as well as physical health, interpersonal relationships, and professional persona are all affected by it. Going a step further, The Secret claims that the veracity of ?The Law of Attraction? has been closely guarded by those in the know, lest the population at large were to catch on to something this potentially powerful and liberating.

To understand the scope of the mind change that needs to occur, the film presents three actions that must be taken prior to any transformation:

1. One must ask.

2. One must believe.

3. One must receive.

Utilizing the power of the spoken word via the interviews as well as the energy of the dramatically presented truths the picture has to offer, the film's producers capitalize on the showcased individuals? reputations, mastery of their respective fields, and ability to present the reality of ?The Law of Attraction? as they see it played out as either physicists, metaphysics gurus, coaches, philosophers, finance experts, psychologists, physiologists, and feng shui masters.

Questioning what the universe can do for the individual rather than the other way around, quotes of history's greatest and most creative minds are offered: you may hear words from Buddha, Aristotle, Plato, Sir Isaac Newton, Martin Luther King, Jr., Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, and musical genius Ludwig van Beethoven. This brings the film full circle to an exploration of the New Thought Movement which was thought to have begun in the mid to late 19th century.

To the uninitiated the notion that The Secret seeks to reveal is a bit odd and smacks on the mysterious and as such is considered removed from the mainstream. Yet with the gain in popularity that the New Thought movement has received in recent decades, it is not surprising to see the principles of the film embraced by a number of individuals who are featured. Claiming to have used the information thus far withheld, they promise that personal and professional success and happiness in this world no longer need to elude the viewer ? once she or he understand that whatever they release into the world they will also receive back.