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Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo, a major spokesman for Vipassana meditation, has helped finance an upcoming film, "The Dhamma Brothers," which operates under the tagline "East Meets West in the Deep South."



The documentary – which takes place in an overcrowded, understaffed correction facility that houses 1,500 of Alabama's most dangerous criminals –  chronicles the lives of inmates who are dramatically changed by the influence of the ancient meditation program.

Behind high-security towers and a double row of barbed and electrical-wire fences, 36 inmates from the Donaldson Correctional Facility were given the opportunity to partake in an emotionally and physically demanding course of silent meditation for 10 days. During these 10 days, the prisoners followed a strict daily routine consisting only of eating, sleeping and meditating. What resulted was a seemingly drastic change in their attitudes and outlook on life.

In interviews conducted before the meditation course, the inmates expressed a great sense of fear and apprehension as they anticipated what they would find once they left with nowhere to turn to but inside. After the course, however, the inmates show a drastic change in attitude and discuss the pain and self-discovery they experienced while mediating. To challenge skeptics of the program, who believe the prisoners could just be putting on an act for the parole board, the film also includes follow-up interviews with family members of the inmates, prison staff and the prisoners themselves.

Like many of the inmates, Cuomo's life was changed by Vipassana. "What struck me was how similar my experience is in the meditation course to how it is for these criminals serving life sentences," Cuomo explained, according to RollingStone.com. The singer reportedly related to a statement from the movie, in which a convicted murderer admits, "I've been on death row for eight years, and this 10-day course was harder."

Though not an inmate himself, it is fairly easy to see why he relates to those benefiting from the vigorous meditation program. His behavior over the years has been hardly predictable or balanced: leaving rock stardom to attend classes at Harvard University from 1995-1997 after the release of Weezer's [1996 album] Pinkerton, then going back under his shell when it proved to be less successful than [1994's] The Blue Album. During this time, the troubled artist spent his days in a Culver City apartment building under a Los Angeles freeway, with black walls and fiberglass-covered windows that he then covered with black sheets. Cut off from the world, Cuomo spent most of his time with his pet gecko.

But after becoming a devout Vipassana practitioner, Cuomo took to working on his spirituality, his education and his love life. In 2006 he graduated 10 days before getting married and finally got situated in a somewhat balanced life, in part thanks to his meditation habits. In an earlier interview with the Boston Globe, Cuomo explained, "I [had been] in creative trouble. I was becoming less sensitive and my songs were getting worse. I had these self-destructive mental patterns, and as soon as I started meditating I felt those loosening up. I dove in really quickly."

So maybe the belief that the Vipassana practices are having lasting effects on the prisoners of Donaldson Correctional Facility isn't so far fetched after all. "The Dhamma Brothers," financed in part by Cuomo, was released May 9 at Laemmie's Sunset 5 Theatre in Los Angeles.

Weezer released their sixth record, The Red Album, on June 3 and have planned a short June run, dubbed the Hootenanny Tour, in which the band will be inviting 100-200 Weezer fans to jump onstage each night to play any instrument of their choice.