1. cinespect .com http://cinespect.com/2011/09/the-revolution-beneath-our-feet/
Halim Cillov
The Revolution Beneath Our Feet
“Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles” opens September 2
Showing at IFC Center
Running Time: 85 Minutes. Unrated.
Every day we trudge on over the ugly pavements of the metropolis without noticing anything below us, as our
eyes are longingly locked on the limitless sky above us. These concrete roads of the city hold no gripping
mysteries or illuminating revelations f or us. They are mundane, dirty, maybe appalling, and def initely the
opposite of exciting; they are just a means of transportation f or us. However, f or some iconoclastic souls that
were pushed to the underground, these very same pavements can hold the long-sought keys to self -
expression and unrestrained f reedom. “Resurrect Dead” is the touching and spooky true story of one of the
most intriguing modern urban mysteries of our time: a series of tiles f eaturing a cryptic message that is
embedded in pavements all over America and one ordinary man’s years long, relentless investigation to
demystif y this enigma.
In 1994, Justin Duerr is an artist/musician living in Philadelphia, working as a f oot courier. Spending most of his
waking hours on the pavements, he starts to notice colorf ul tiles all over the city with an obscure message
written on them: “Toynbee Idea/ In Kubrick’s 2001 / Resurrect Dead / On Planet Jupiter.” Right away, he takes up
a new hobby, photographing these tiles and recording their locations. In good time, through the internet, Duerr
discovers that these so-called Toynbee tiles are not appearing only in Philadelphia, but they are all over North
America and South America, in metropolitan cities like Boston, New York, Baltimore, Buenos Aires and even
Santiago. For years, Duerr passionately continues his investigation of the tiles and their possible meaning as a
side-project. Until one day in 2000, he misses the inf amous tiler by minutes when he discovers a f reshly made
tile right outside of the convenience store that he got in less than f ive minutes ago. That chance encounter

2. conf irms his belief that it’s one man responsible f or these tiles and with the right resources it would be
possible to solve this surreal mystery.
Duerr’s borderline obsession with the Tiles brings him into the company of two other Toynbee Tiles
af icionados: Steve Weinik and Colin Smith. As this eccentric trio band together to solve what they believe is the
biggest urban mystery of the contemporary world, they f ind clues that are even more bizarre than the mystery
itself ; some key clues of this braintwister are: Stanley Kubrick’s trippy classic “2001: A Space Odyssey,” an
article written by the historian Arnold J. Toynbee, a Jupiter colonization organization, a gonzo message f rom a
TV news hijacker, and a David Mamet play titled “4 am.” What f ollows is one of the most unique and engaging
documentaries about a revolutionary mystery that has been silently sitting right beneath our f eet f or many
years. Besides all of these, this is also a heart-f elt documentary about Justin Duerr, a loner and a struggling
artist who dedicated his lif e to the mystery of the Toynbee Tiles. Undoubtedly, the most touching and thought-
provoking parts of this documentary are the parts where we witness the uncanny similarities between the
inf amous Tiler and Justin Duerr; both are gif ted, introverted, artistic people who were severely bullied by their
surroundings that f orced them to choose a lif e away f rom the so-called society. Justin is not only our guide to
the Toynbee Tiles Mystery, but he is also the key to succinctly understanding the psyche of the anonymous
Tiler and the revolution he wanted to create with his tiles.
In the end, we don’t get clear-cut answers to all of the mysteries of the Toynbee Tiles. However, we still get a
solid interpretation of what the cryptic message of the Toynbee Tiles means and how the tiles were spread
over the world. Still, there are enough questions lef t out about the Toynbee Tiles that are going to occupy the
mystery junkies f or many years to come. All and all, this is a brilliant documentary with a topic and execution like
no other. The director Jon Foy masterf ully mixes f ound-f ootage, animation, interviews and some f ilm-like
detective work to craf t a deep work of art that has a soul. It is simply impossible not to be inspired and
touched by this documentary about the persistence and the f ragility of the human soul, and not wonder what
kind of other mysteries might be embedded in our mundane everyday surroundings that we f ail to see. The real
ref erence behind the movie’s title, “Resurrect Dead,” might be residing in the realm of science-f iction, but the
message of the movie is an universal one: this is a wake-up call f or us, the zombies of the world’s
metropolises. It’s time to stop antagonizing our outsiders and pay kind attention to our surroundings, only
then we can truly ‘resurrect dead.’