Today I had the chance to see Baraka created by Ron Fricke and Mark Magidson, directed by Fricke on big screen at Irish Film Institute. It is an incredible film, I see myself lucky to see in on theater.
There are no plot or
actors just visually stunning images from 25 countries from 6 continents. “Without
words, cameras show us the world, with an emphasis not on "where,"
but on "what's there."”[1]
Images of nature, human, worship, harmony and destruction of human is all harbored in this film where the director says it is "a guided mediation
on humanity." The film was
completed in 30 months, 14 months on location[2].
The word baraka means ‘blessing’, where in Quran it
is used in plural meaning sent by God[3].
The film starts with these ‘blessings’, where we see people from different religions
worship; we see the nature and human in harmony. Later on the film, we start to
see the destruction and mass production. The film can be divided to three
parts: “Act 1 depicts scenes of natural wonder and religious rituals that blend
together. In Act 2 the movie shifts direction as a Brazilian rain forest tree is
chainsawed to the ground. An enormous strip mine scars the landscape. Cities
progressively increase in size and take on a mechanical breathing sound. The
result is overpopulation, mass production, factory farms, poverty,
prostitution, war, and ultimately genocide. Act 3 is one of redemption.
Civilizations ultimately collapse under their own weight, and people are
purified by returning to nature and religious ritual”[4].
The pictures are taken from: http://www.spiritofbaraka.com/baraka
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