Baraka
1992 Directed by Ron Fricke
Synopsis
A world beyond words.
This is a paralyzingly beautiful documentary with a global vision: an odyssey through landscape and time, that is an attempt to capture the essence of life.
Popular reviews
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Your favorites - My First Time Pt 2.
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About halfway through Baraka, Ron Fricke's wordless wonder of a film, a question kept popping in my head: Why exactly did Fricke decide to make and release Samsara?
Samsara isn't a bad film (I gave it 3 stars about a month ago), but Baraka is so much better than Samsara in literally every way and Samsara doesn't really try…
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Like a love child of Terrence Malick and The Discovery Channel, BARAKA is a meditative look at some of the people, places, and cultures from around our unique world.
It also happens to boast some of the most spectacular, awe-inspiring picture quality to ever grace the blu-ray format.
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What the fuck is this bullshit? Biggest example of style over substance. Was my dialogue audio channel broken? Cuz this shit had no story, yo. I thought it was the retrospective of the world from some monkey.
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The ultimate presentation of Earth and it's spiritual inhabitants.
The film is often compared to Koyaanisqatsi, the first of the Qatsi-films, directed by Godfrey Reggio for which Ron Fricke was cinematographer. One could almost call it a spiritual follow-up.
It's like Koyaanisqatsi, only better. How's that even possible, you would might ask, but it really is. It's more subtle in its approach, has better cinematography and is a way more complex story. It's unique in its beauty, sensitivity, and perception. Baraka succeeded, in the course of 90 minutes, in moving me from the humdrum of everyday reality to a calmer and more spiritual space.
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Baraka is a film so visually and emotionally powerful that it credence to the idea of film as a true art form. Created out of only images: time lapse, portraits, dolly shots, helicopter shots. Baraka is powerful because of the humanity that the individual viewer puts into the images. It's created to evoke ideas from us. It gives us images and we put the thoughts on top of it. That's what's amazing about it, we are the ones that actually piece together the themes. The movie is just a blueprint for our minds to wander. Similar to 2001 it doesn't give us answers, hell it almost doesn't give you questions.
Watching the "making of" gives a lot of insight into…
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Absolutely astonishing. One of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Sometimes you get so caught up in your own life and the walls around you, you forget that the world is so god damn big, and in the grand scheme of things you are so god damn small.
I read a lot of people say that you needed to be stoned to enjoy this film. I disagree completely. All you need is the ability to open up and appreciate a work of art, and the ability to put things in perspective.
Don't get me wrong though, this would probably be friggin rad to watch while stoned. It just isn't a requirement.
Recent reviews
More-
Your favorites - My First Time Pt 2.
--
About halfway through Baraka, Ron Fricke's wordless wonder of a film, a question kept popping in my head: Why exactly did Fricke decide to make and release Samsara?
Samsara isn't a bad film (I gave it 3 stars about a month ago), but Baraka is so much better than Samsara in literally every way and Samsara doesn't really try…
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Stunning visuals.
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I liked it better when it was called Koyaanisqatsi and was, you know, good.
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A plotless film leaves a lot to be desired; nice "documentary" style film.
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You have to be high to watch this film..
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Astounds me every time I watch it. Life reaffirming.
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Absolutely astonishing. One of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Sometimes you get so caught up in your own life and the walls around you, you forget that the world is so god damn big, and in the grand scheme of things you are so god damn small.
I read a lot of people say that you needed to be stoned to enjoy this film. I disagree completely. All you need is the ability to open up and appreciate a work of art, and the ability to put things in perspective.
Don't get me wrong though, this would probably be friggin rad to watch while stoned. It just isn't a requirement.
-
The ultimate presentation of Earth and it's spiritual inhabitants.
The film is often compared to Koyaanisqatsi, the first of the Qatsi-films, directed by Godfrey Reggio for which Ron Fricke was cinematographer. One could almost call it a spiritual follow-up.
It's like Koyaanisqatsi, only better. How's that even possible, you would might ask, but it really is. It's more subtle in its approach, has better cinematography and is a way more complex story. It's unique in its beauty, sensitivity, and perception. Baraka succeeded, in the course of 90 minutes, in moving me from the humdrum of everyday reality to a calmer and more spiritual space.
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It made me think about my life, and all that sort of crap...