[Bob in St. Louis]

Wow.   

For a 90 minute film that plays without a single word spoken, the experience speaks volumes.

A buddy of mine (non-audiophile) bought this disc a couple years ago, but was saving the cinematic experience for "the right time".
As fate has it, he chose my room as "that time".
All I can say is, "Wow".

I'm speechless......period.

I've only seen part one.

Thoughts?

Bob

[Mike Nomad]

Yeah, I found it pretty mind-blowing the first time I saw it. For a contemporary look at life out of balance, Baraka is a must see. The movie is, at times, a crushing experience:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103767/

[sts9fan]

I agree that overall I like Baraka better, but this is still a great flick.  For anyone who has not seen it i would say its a must see. It also benefits from whatever flavor of mental enhancement you may choose.

[FullRangeMan]

Boring! The worst movie I've ever seen in my life. I had to see these two bad movies to take my sister to the movies.
The rich Americans, like Glass, find poverty interesting/nice and transform misery into art make fame and reputation to himself.

[sts9fan]

Boring! The rich Americans, like Glass, find poverty interesting/nice and transform misery into art

I think you missed the point.

[Atlplasma]

Boring! The worst movie I've ever seen in my life. I had to see these two bad movies to take my sister to the movies.
The rich Americans, like Glass, find poverty interesting/nice and transform misery into art make fame and reputation to himself.

I recently watched a documentary on Philip Glass. I think it would be a stretch to call him a "rich" American. I don't understand the comment on poverty. Are you saying that artist shouldn't incorporate social reality into their work?

[BobRex]

There are very few movies that ever had me totally transfixed onto the screen.  This was one of them!  The only response I could muster after it ended echoed Bob's.

Fullranger, you have missed te entire point of the film.

[FullRangeMan]

I recently watched a documentary on Philip Glass. I think it would be a stretch to call him a "rich" American. I don't understand the comment on poverty. Are you saying that artist shouldn't incorporate social reality into their work?

Sorry guys if you love the film, I had see poverty all my life, it is not good.
I feel bad after see this movie, I sorry If Mr.Glass not rich by the USA standards, surely it is rich by the poor countries low life standard.

Glass would use a few seconds or minutes of poverty images, but no a entire film on it.
This is make money or fame over the pain of many poor people.
After a while or years, poverty hurts the soul of the people, is not nice to see it in a movie.
I glad Glass is a great classical composer.

[sts9fan]

I get it,keep the poverty out of site/out of mind. 

[srb]

After a while or years, poverty hurts the soul of the people, is not nice to see it in a movie.

You certainly have the right to not want to view something that makes you uncomfortable or that you think is exploitive.  You should also probably avoid seeing Slumdog Millionaire.  And even District 9.
 
Steve

[wushuliu]

Sorry guys if you love the film, I had see poverty all my life, it is not good.
I feel bad after see this movie, I sorry If Mr.Glass not rich by the USA standards, surely it is rich by the poor countries low life standard.

Glass would use a few seconds or minutes of poverty images, but no a entire film on it.
This is make money or fame over the pain of many poor people.
After a while or years, poverty hurts the soul of the people, is not nice to see it in a movie.
I glad Glass is a great classical composer.

These films were not made FOR people who live in poverty, but for people who DON'T live in poverty or otherwise poor conditions/environments. If you have grown up around such conditions, of course these films are not for you! There is nothing for you to learn!

Also, Philip Glass wrote the score/soundtrack he did not direct or produce the films, so why blame him?

[Mike Nomad]

Sorry guys if you love the film, I had see poverty all my life, it is not good.
I feel bad after see this movie, I sorry If Mr.Glass not rich by the USA standards, surely it is rich by the poor countries low life standard.

Glass would use a few seconds or minutes of poverty images, but no a entire film on it.
This is make money or fame over the pain of many poor people.
After a while or years, poverty hurts the soul of the people, is not nice to see it in a movie.
I glad Glass is a great classical composer.

Having been reliant on the kindness of friends to put me up (when I wasn't sleeping in my car), I would have to disagree with you. Poverty is indeed a spiritually deadening, soul crushing experience, and hiding it helps perpetuate it.

I think films that accurately portray the shitty existence most of the planet endures on a daily basis are important: People who have never had the experience first hand should at least get a hefty, vicarious dose on occasion. People who have been there have a reminder of what they left.

Never forget where you came from, and never forget that you can wind up there once again.

P.S. Avoid Winter's Bone.

[wushuliu]

Yeah, I found it pretty mind-blowing the first time I saw it. For a contemporary look at life out of balance, Baraka is a must see. The movie is, at times, a crushing experience:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103767/

I agree Baraka is phenomenal. I watched it over and over when it first came out. It owes a lot to the Poy/Koyaniqaatsi films but is better than either of them IMO, at least visually. I like Glass but more than 10min. of his music and I start to zone out unless I'm reading or something or the exceptional Glass/Shankar CD 'Passages' but that's because the Indian elements shake things up a little.

[Mike Nomad]

I agree Baraka is phenomenal. I watched it over and over when it first came out. It owes a lot to the Poy/Koyaniqaatsi films but is better than either of them IMO, at least visually. I like Glass but more than 10min. of his music and I start to zone out unless I'm reading or something or the exceptional Glass/Shankar CD 'Passages' but that's because the Indian elements shake things up a little.

Yeah, we would not have Baraka without the first two Qatsi films. A little Glass does indeed go a long way. A long time ago, I re-cut the first two together, and re-scored it using a handful of Morton Feldman pieces. I wish I still had the tape...

[Bob in St. Louis]

Watch this. That sums it up for anybody and everybody.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GO1nYk8ErUc&feature=related

[Mike Nomad]

Watch this. That sums it up for anybody and everybody.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GO1nYk8ErUc&feature=related

Great find. I had forgotten that the film was originally an IRE project.

[richidoo]

The movie is 87 minutes, so the original soundtrack was abridged to fit on a 50 minute LP. In 1997 Nonesuch recorded the score as a 70 minute concert piece, arranged by Glass to fit on CD. http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=331

I heard this on the radio a couple weeks ago, definitely a fun listen. I enjoyed seeing the movie in theater way back.

[FullRangeMan]

These films were not made FOR people who live in poverty, but for people who DON'T live in poverty or otherwise poor conditions/environments. If you have grown up around such conditions, of course these films are not for you! There is nothing for you to learn!

Also, Philip Glass wrote the score/soundtrack he did not direct or produce the films, so why blame him?

Good to know Glass do not made this film, Thanks.
I read various film critics saying this film was made by a intelectual director to snobs NewYorkers to know the 3º world poverty, what seems true.

[jimdgoulding]

Koyaanisqatsi: definition Life Out of Balance, is a 1982 film directed by Godfrey Reggio with music composed by Philip Glass and cinematography by Ron Fricke.
 
The film consists primarily of slow motion and time-lapse footage of cities and many natural landscapes across the United States. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and music. Reggio explains the lack of dialogue by stating "it's not for lack of love of the language that these films have no words. It's because, from my point of view, our language is in a state of vast humiliation. It no longer describes the world in which we live."[1] In the Hopi language, the word Koyaanisqatsi means "unbalanced life".[2] The film is the first in the Qatsi trilogy of films: it is followed by Powaqqatsi (1988) and Naqoyqatsi (2002). The trilogy depicts different aspects of the relationship between humans, nature, and technology. Koyaanisqatsi is the best known of the trilogy and is considered a cult film. However, because of copyright issues, the film was out of print for most of the 1990s

The director, Glass composed the music, may have been calling attention to injusticies in the world (out of balance) rather than exploiting them.  I think Full Range is sensitive about this because of where he lives and has lived.  Es verdad, mi hermano?  Correct me if I'm wrong, fellas, but isn't that what you meant in saying Full Range misses the point? 

I like what Reggio has to say about not using words.  English is mostly subject/object.  It defines everything, falsely.  Don't know about other languages but Spanish in more verb oriented, sometimes called romantic. 

[FullRangeMan]

Hi Jim,
You hit the point, I up to here with poverty and politicians.
The words absent in this movie is a blank book, every one thinks what you want.
Fortunately Iam not a fan of action movies, or even others styles, to prevent my mind is shaped by the ideas and images from the film, often subliminal.