This film is visually stunning.
Filmed in 70mm in 24 countries, it is one long montage of scenes.
The viewer has to be in the right frame of mind to watch “Baraka” – there is no dialogue or narration. All of the images are set to New Age music.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/XO1nSVy8q8I" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]Sometimes the camera lingers on one image of people facing it quietly which makes the viewer have to take note of that person. Other scenes, shown in time lapse photography, are a whirlwind of motion.
What this film does is show the human condition throughout the world. By juxtaposing images of nature with those of man, it presents human activity as part of the organic world.
“Baraka” could be called “A Day in the Life of Planet Earth.”
It shows the flora and fauna of the world as well as items like the Chinese army of terracotta soldiers. There are also shots of homeless people and those left to pick at trash in landfills.
Because the film never lets the viewer know where it is filming, it’s anybody’s guess as to what they are watching. But that works because the audience can simply enjoy the images without the bias that might accompany that knowledge.
So, the movie shows Tibetan monks and Jews praying but never lets the audience know that.
The lack of narration and identifiers drives home the film’s purpose – to show us all as denizens of one world.
Because it films people all over the world in worship, in war, in business, in celebration in simply living, “Baraka” provides sumptuous slices of life, some exotic, some mundane.
“Baraka” is available to rent.
Murphy can be reached at: Lojano@comcast.net