Baraka

(1) A copy of Baraka. Steal it if you have to. (2) The biggest, clearest TV you can find and 5.1 surround. (3) A fabulously-rolled spleefer as long as your arm. (4) Phones off the hook, and an empty house with the lights out. (5) A recliner with a seat belt. (6) 96 minutes of your time.

I am 30 year old factory worker who loves NASCAR and Hockey and own 3 carbureted cars - 1 parked in my backyard that hasn't ran in 2 years AND I could probably pass for the guy who might spit as I offer you confusing directions if you stopped to ask, but I have never seen anything anywhere remotely close to this masterpiece. It's so good that it runs through my head while I'm slugging away at work covered in factory germs. The Burgan oil fires (the fire we possess) to the Australian steel workers (our ongoing need to keep the fire going) to the Auschwitz gas ovens (what we choose to do with it) is pure cinematic genius. For me, the Whirling Dervishes forward is my favorite scene. Where it slides from the mosque in Mecca to the cathedral ceiling at the Vatican is absolutely mind-bending. I feel like crying every time I watch it, yet I'm not all that religious.

Aside from all this film brings with it, it's not for everyone, and I can understand that. I was 17 when it came out and probably could have cared less. But for a blue-collar hick in need of a shave like me, I'd take this movie to prison if I was allowed.

When you see it for the first time, don't ask questions. Turn the volume up as loud as you can and just watch it. Baraka will provide you with everything you need. 10 thumbs out of 10, and not just up, but way up. Can't wait for the sequel.

To do describe this work of art simply as a "movie" would be inaccurate and unjustified. More akin to a tone poem Baraka is.

Is this what the world would look like to a god, a being who experiences time differently than we do?

While Koyaanisqatsi effectively drilled its message, "Humans are destroying the planet!", into our hypnotized minds, Baraka lets you ponder and meditate its multiple meanings. Are humans just another part of the ecosystem, behaving as any other organism would with our capabilities? Or are we different, even alien, to this world?

10 out of 10.

When I first experienced (that's the most striking word for it) this movie at the Gothenburg Film Festival 1994, I was truly amazed. Never before - or since - have I had such an over all explain-it-all feeling after a show.

Ron Fricke has made a documentary about the World today for a day: starting at dawn with monkeys in hot springs in Japan, and the morning rituals of various religions. This is followed by the awakening of the human race, both in the big cities and on the country side. Brilliantly edited together follows every aspect of human daily life combined with the general changes of the planet itself and all the ecological systems upon it.

The over all glue of the story are the various religious rituals. Maybe this is my personal interpretation, being a teacher of Religion, but the only time giver, except for the turning of the sun, are the praying times and times of worship peoples practice around the globe.

My comparison of the film to the GAIA idea (that the Earth as a whole being a unit, a living organism) is detectable both in the way every different cultures shown are found to be very similar to one another, as well as the speeded up people at side walks and zebra crossings look very much like the stream of blood in the veins of an organism.

All in all this is a marvellous movie pointing out both the uniqueness of the individual and the unity with all people. Go see it - now!

Simply one of the most beautiful films you will ever see. If it's near you on the big screen, you must not miss it. Otherwise, pour a glass of wine, sit closer to the TV than your Mom would prefer, and drop in. Welcome to the world as it is in real, bigger-than-life images of humanity, and all the colors of the spectrum. It moves a bit slowly, but you'll want for more.

It is perplexing to read a few comments below that rubbish this film. To me, and to so many others, it is unequaled in it's beauty, sensitivity and deep spiritual perception into this amazing world that we inhabit.

Really, I think if anyone watches this film and cannot feel uplifted to the heavens, then they must be spiritually deadened by cynicism and negativity.

Even without DVD and the big screen, we have enjoyed repeated viewing of this EXCEPTIONAL film. I first saw it in Sydney, in Panavision's huge screen, and was totally blown away by the cinematography as well as the profoundly moving music. But even on VHS here at home, it touches me ever so deeply.

10 out of 10. An incredible experience!!