Gaillo
12th September 2012, 01:30 PM
No... this isn't a thread about our "dear leader", but a film.
Watched this yesterday:
http://www.amazon.com/Baraka-2-Disc-Special-Edition-n/dp/B001CDLAT4/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103767/
It's kind of difficult to describe this film. There is no dialog, it's basically a series of video clips of different manmade and natural scenes with various musical pieces playing in the background. For those who have seen the 1980's film "Koyaanisqatsi", this film is similar... amazing breathtaking footage set to an instrumental soundtrack.
Baraka is a bit different, though... while Koyaanisqatsi has a definite agenda of showing how out of control modern human life has become, Baraka seems to have more of a "spiritual" and natural beauty theme. The film tends to focus (although not exclusively) on human spiritual/religious rituals, temples, priests and monks, graveyards, shamen, ruins, etc.
There are some REALLY shocking and ugly scenes in this movie, it's not all about beautiful cinematography and uplifting sentiment. There are scenes of people in India going through garbage dumps in search of food. Scenes of the aftermath of the Cambodian killing fields. Scenes of burning bodies on the shore of the Ganges river. Scenes of deep African tribesmen doing ritual dances naked and howling. Concentration camps and prison cells. Stacks of skulls. Scenes of starving beggars and people sleeping in the streets with nothing. War. You get the idea... a wide range of human experience, sacred and profane.
Along with the horror, you get an overwhelming dose of beauty. Astonishing architecture. natural scenery. Animals. Modern urban landcapes. Stars. Eclipses. Ruins of ancient civilizations. Time-lapse photography of cities, human activity, factory floors, and clouds. Things you look at and say "wow... I had no idea that's on the same planet!"
I can't recommend this film enough... it's easily in my top 10 films at this point, so beautiful yet so savage and ugly at the same time. A true piece of cinematograhic art, I would describe it as visual poetry. I don't think that anyone can watch this and be unmoved... at least nobody who can lay claim to being human!
If you have a chance, check it out.
Watched this yesterday:
http://www.amazon.com/Baraka-2-Disc-Special-Edition-n/dp/B001CDLAT4/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103767/
It's kind of difficult to describe this film. There is no dialog, it's basically a series of video clips of different manmade and natural scenes with various musical pieces playing in the background. For those who have seen the 1980's film "Koyaanisqatsi", this film is similar... amazing breathtaking footage set to an instrumental soundtrack.
Baraka is a bit different, though... while Koyaanisqatsi has a definite agenda of showing how out of control modern human life has become, Baraka seems to have more of a "spiritual" and natural beauty theme. The film tends to focus (although not exclusively) on human spiritual/religious rituals, temples, priests and monks, graveyards, shamen, ruins, etc.
There are some REALLY shocking and ugly scenes in this movie, it's not all about beautiful cinematography and uplifting sentiment. There are scenes of people in India going through garbage dumps in search of food. Scenes of the aftermath of the Cambodian killing fields. Scenes of burning bodies on the shore of the Ganges river. Scenes of deep African tribesmen doing ritual dances naked and howling. Concentration camps and prison cells. Stacks of skulls. Scenes of starving beggars and people sleeping in the streets with nothing. War. You get the idea... a wide range of human experience, sacred and profane.
Along with the horror, you get an overwhelming dose of beauty. Astonishing architecture. natural scenery. Animals. Modern urban landcapes. Stars. Eclipses. Ruins of ancient civilizations. Time-lapse photography of cities, human activity, factory floors, and clouds. Things you look at and say "wow... I had no idea that's on the same planet!"
I can't recommend this film enough... it's easily in my top 10 films at this point, so beautiful yet so savage and ugly at the same time. A true piece of cinematograhic art, I would describe it as visual poetry. I don't think that anyone can watch this and be unmoved... at least nobody who can lay claim to being human!
If you have a chance, check it out.