Baraka
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Movie Reviews of Baraka
Movie Review: Watch on the largest screen you can!
Summary: 5 Stars
And crank down the bass a little (if you have a subwoofer). This movie gives the person with their DVD players, SUV and well- paying job to see something in this world that the viewer most likely has not seen, which is an intimate look at cultures, environments and nature the world over. With no concern of SARS or an expensive plane ticket, you feel afterwards that you truly experienced a global tour.
Baraka begins at a rather cautious pace, and as each scene passes by your vision, the intensity and depth slowly but steadily increases. It's a bit hard to describe, but I feel in a way that it causes the viewer to look inward at his/her own view of what the world is about and what life means. In a way, it compells you to ask yourself some deep questions. Make sure to keep your attention on watching the movie with NO interruptions to get the full effect. Pausing for phone calls, snacks or bathroom breaks is verboten, so get everything done first!
Baraka unfolds in the early morning and as the film passes through the first 10 minutes or so, you see examples of different beliefs and religions mixed with clips of nature. Eventually the two collide. And by the end, you're amazed at the solar eclipse and lunar starfields. Yet Ron Fricke's intent wasn't to make any statement at all.
There are elements of almost every type mixed into the film from peaceful co- existance to conflict (no graphic footage, don't worry), faith, technology, beauty and struggle. In some ways you may feel helpless after watching the slow decay/destruction of the world at the hands of mankind, yet Fricke also inserts visions which somehow reassure that nature ultimately holds the key to the fate of human beings since she is infinitely more powerful (and is much more patient).
If you get the chance, sample Baraka (a national video rental place has it on stock in special interest, so you can take a peek at it), and you'll more than likely want to own this. The majority of filming is either in slow motion or in time lapse, with not a single word spoken. Fricke and Mark Madigson developed some camera and dolly techniques that created the smoothest time lapse photography available, and some of the filming they've done you may recognize in some commercials or even movies.
NOTE, this is for the earlier MPI version DVD (DVD7060), which is somewhat similar in content, and the never version claims a new 70mm transfer and digitally- remastered audio. One thing I noticed that wasn't noted in the specs on the Collector's Edition is they didn't mention a full screen version; the older DVD is double- sided, one for the widescreen and the other for pan & scan.
Other suggestions: Koyaanisqatsi (deals mainly with the industrial cultures, cinematography by Fricke, 1983), Chronos (by Fricke, 40 minutes, 1985 which has music a little dated, but the film techniques are similar) and Powaqqatsi (1988). Of these, Baraka is best, IMHO.
Tidbit: There was also a coffee table book with images from scenery in Baraka.
Movie Review: Baraka asks "why"
Summary: 5 Stars
It's quite astounding how Baraka could convey such an emotional message without words. The director's choice of images underscored man's sinfulness, his need for redemption, and implicitly, his need for God's grace (and/or connection with a supreme being).
The director's images are bleak; his outlook seems fatalistic in that he deliberately chose the broken, the down trodden, the poor, the bleary, war-torn landscapes. He could have just as easily chosen neutral or positive images: gardeners harvesting fruits and vegetables, people exploring mountain vistas on horseback, modest cities, towns, suburbs, railroads, bridges, et cetera. Instead, he chose to show people and animals scavenging through mountains of trash, mules pulling heavy loads and worked to the point of exhaustion, and dilapidated old shacks in which the extremely poor reside. This wasn't merely a cross-section of humanity -- it was a cross-section of the bleaker aspects of humanity.
Even the neutral images of traffic and people -- sped up to several times their normal pace -- were shown as if to say "we're no different from the animals." Images of baby chickens in a factory are toggled with images of commuters packed on subway cars and escalators. An arial view of people at a house of worship are shown as to resemble worker bees or ants scurrying about.
One scene I felt was particularly effective was the way the director humanized the city. It was subtle, but the time-lapse shot of the city at night featured a soundtrack that resembled breathing! Yet the breath was mechanic, almost like an amalgamation of factory/machine sounds. This "lifeless breath" was perfectly in time with the traffic flow and it made for an interesting shot.
I know I'm biased in this regard, but I felt the director was East-centric and didn't include enough scenes of Christianity. I don't recall seeing any Protestants, and don't remember seeing worshippers in church. The only time the director zoomed in on a depiction of Christ, the picture had what looked like paint spilled on it and it was in decay. Editorializing? Perhaps.
Baraka is a worldwide story of redemption -- a store of people finding God. Baraka doesn't ask "how" as much as it asks "why". Baraka presents a voyeur version of religions -- you get to see what's going on, but the specific details don't really matter.
In total, Baraka lays out for the viewer man's sinful nature, and presents religion as a way for man to reconnect with the divine.
Movie Review: SEEKING TRANSCENDENCE
Summary: 5 Stars
"It's not where you are that's important, it's what's there."-- Ron Fricke, director/photographer
Baraka is a Sufi word that means "essence." It also translates into various world languages as "breath" or "blessing." BARAKA the movie (MPI Home Video) is a non-narrative tour de force of images and sounds that captures the sacred dance of life on our home planet. Filmmaker Ron Fricke shot this rich visual mantra on 69 locations in 24 countries. From the opening credits with dawn gilding the frozen peaks of the Himalayas to the fade out of the gracefully rotating starfields above the Egyptian ruins of Karnak's gigantic columns, we are exposed to the rhythmic designs of time and light embedded in our spaces, whether it be a wave of clouds cascading down the walls of the Grand Canyon, or whirling dervishes in Istanbul. World religions and their rituals are gracefully contrasted with not only the shifting patterns in nature, but also the sometimes disturbing but equally mesmerizing flow of human activity. The rituals and that accompany the Wailing Wall at Jerusalem are shared with the time lapse patterns of New York's subway riders, the unsettling symmetry of a cigarette factory assembly line and Calcutta's homeless foragers and so on. Butt dancers, death camps, stone figures, Tiananmen Square, volcano's fervent meanders at night, post war oil fires, mauve tinted bird migrations, a Tibetan monk rings a great bell -- the sounds and images merge and blend and eventually become something much more than their individual elements.
Surrender to this extraordinary experience and participate in a kind of high, an altered state, that generates a sense of connectedness, dare I say, a shared, hard-wired desire to glimpse a Grander Design that runs through all.
Baraka is a stunning film that is perfectly matched and greatly enhanced by Michael Stern's exquisitely designed original score that includes richly textured ambient, natural, tribal, industrial and religious elements along with his percussive, string and voice-as-instrument sweeteners.
Language cannot do justice to this unexpected, amazing and dazzling film. It may not be for everyone, but for those who desire a meditative, provocative and spiritually refreshing recess from the stressors of the mundane and ordinary, it is highly recommended. And it does not lose its appeal with repeat viewings. The DVD release is a completely new, pristine, Todd-AO 70mm, ultra widescreen (2.20:1) transfer with very crisp sound.
Movie Review: Beauty beyond words
Summary: 5 Stars
Baraka is a visual feast like no other, a film that begs to be seen on the largest screen possible so the viewer can absorb the grandiose feel of the images. This is the type of film that IMAX was made for. Filmed on a 70mm camera in a total of 24 countries, it is a dialogue-free film that takes the viewer around the globe into uncharted lands. The first half of the film shows us the natural beauty of earth as we are shown striking images of mountain ranges, deserts, tropical rain forests, volcanoes, solar temples, exotic animals. The whole thing is done to the tune of a spellbinding soundtrack of ambient music, Gregorian chants, flutes and other exotic sounds by world music artists such as Harmonic Choir and Dead Can Dance. But Baraka is much more than just National Geographic for the visually inclined. Its purpose is to give us a view of the world good and bad. And as the second half of the film unwinds, the tone of Baraka becomes increasingly dark and pessimistic as we are exposed to some of the harsh realities of the world like homelessness, poverty, slave labour, hunger. Horrifying images of tree-chopping, sweatshops, subway-cramming in Tokyo and scenes in a chicken factory will make many cringe and think twice about eating chicken for a while. But sometimes even within these backdrops of despair can be found things that are beautiful such as the joy and happiness on children's faces despite growing up in poverty-stricken 2nd world countries. These kids grow up with practically no material possessions yet they seem so HAPPY, much happier than kids of first-world countries who grow up with any material object their heart desires.
Baraka is certainly not the kind of film we are used to seeing. I struggled with it for the first 10 minutes or so but then immediately fell under its spell and forgot that I was watching a film with no dialogue. Sometimes it's nice to be able to flick off the brain, not worry about following a story and just let oneself be absorbed by what's on screen, and that's what this film does. The only minor squabbles I had were the absence of writing on the screen to let us know where in the world we are and that the film did peter out a little towards the end. Baraka is a film worth purchasing that will stand well to multiple viewings and might even make some think twice about where their real priorities ought to be.
Movie Review: Baraka: Starring Planet Earth
Summary: 5 Stars
The psychologically-challenging 1992 film Baraka is richly filled with complexity, gorgeous scenery, and moments that compel you to contemplate. It is opulent in its scope and so alternately awe-inspiring and beautiful that it wields all the greater force to disturb and assault the emotions at those times it chooses to. Certainly I have never seen anything like it.
As its dozens of un-narrated scenes segue without preamble one onto the next, one second showing the natural grandeur of planet earth in all its manifold greatness, the subsequent letting its human cast beckon you into a fleeting instant in their collective but separate lives, I couldn't help but feel my brain launch into some very profound thoughts, and that's the strength of this motion picture.
Along the journey thru Baraka's fast-paced run-time, there are depictions of post-modern city scapes filled with traffic, and villages that have surely stood unchanged through ensuing millennia. A red rock cliff-faced unaltered through eons might precede a shot of a tree falling to earth, its ephemerally suddenly all the more significant in comparison. There are scenes of prayer at the Wailing Wall, and in Mecca, and in Asian temples, and then there are shots of commerce, computer age manufacturing, the industrial processing of animals whose entire existence is spent in development as a source of human food.
Barack is not only a study in contrasts, it is an exercise in mind-expansion, a near-Sisyphisian effort that coaxes anyone who watches it to reach out and at least seek to grasp the immensity of the planet that surrounds us. It is not unlike the Zen meditation technique wherein instead of shutting out the universe, one is directed to open one's eyes and take in all that is around you, great, small, unseen. That is this film's function.
Also, as I watched south Asian beggars pick through massive heaps of refuse, I couldn't help but notice the clothes they wore were, well, downright beautiful, which left me with Baraka's most profound gift of wisdom: if starving people can wear nice clothing and look good, there's really no excuse for those of us in the developed world not to look our best, now, is there?
Yes, this is a profound motion picture, indeed!