Koyaanisqatsi (1982)/Baraka (1992)

 

Koyaanisqatsi (1982)/Baraka (1992) – G. Reggio/R. Fricke

I first saw Koyaanisqatsi in college, as part of a cultural studies class where we watched films in a small screening room in the library. This was probably 1988 and I don’t think I had really been exposed to the essay film before and certainly not a nonverbal one. The images are designed to wash over you, just so much endless timelapse cinematography (by Ron Fricke) in so many fascinating locations. The themes emerge from these images (the title is in the Hopi indigenous language meaning “life out of balance”), moving from ancient vistas (like the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley) to insanely chaotic scenes of humans and cars overwhelming the planet. The camera also stares at people as well as places, pondering their very souls, wondering how they feel about this crazy existence. Philip Glass’s amazing score (once heard, you can never stop intoning the title word in that Gregorian chant way) really elevates everything – all due credit to Godfrey Reggio for having the dream and pulling this all together (as well as the two sequels which I should really track down).  Fast forward a couple of decades to when blu-ray discs were invented and we had just purchased our first player.  I saw a copy of Ron Fricke’s Baraka in a shop and decided it might be perfect as my first purchase in this format. Advertised as being filmed in 24 countries in the late 80s/early 90s and with the same amazing cinematography (lots of timelapse) that Fricke has perfected (even creating his own cameras), the film delivers on its promise.  It really has some spectacular images in some truly historic and memorable places (Japan, Cambodia, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, South America, Australia, etc. etc.).  The themes focus on world religions/spirituality but quickly encompass death, war, sex and everything in between, also roping in some of Koyaanisqatsi’s ideas about industrialisation/world destruction. You get to peek into the soul of a snow monkey chilling out in a Japanese hot spring. Some of the scenes from Auschwitz or red light districts are probably the type of thing you might want to save to discuss with your kids when they are of the right age. We watched these both this week and what more is there to say then that they could be called prophetic given the trainwreck that the world is heading into now (likely foreseeable then but impossible to ignore now). It is almost quaint to see the world in the late 70s to early 90s, a world to which we can never return. See it while you can.