Powaqqatsi

The imaginative slow-motion documentary without any line,sequence, camera just goes through nature , cities and public over third world counties. Everydays routines seems amazing , ordinary motions put in slow are breath-taking.Sense for camera scenes and views and extraordinary shots make this one worth to see. Plus mixed with Philip Glass's composed music - it is relaxing and mild. Also you can find some scenes showing our world going to destructive end and the most moving scene in the end when there is shown that we mostly even can not see pictures like these because this "kind" of world is situated behind a certain curtain, for most of us hard to see through - we live above and look only to our reflections.

This film is, according to its director, a look at a "global culture"; a visual assessment of the response of the "third world" to the force of globalization and the pressure to modernize. He says there are both good points and bad points to be observed, and hopes to portray the creativity and industriousness with which people around the world respond to the demands of their environments.

I do not see this. I see a moving, and beautiful film, but not about this. I see the destructive effects of the ever-increasing commodification of nature, life, and labor, on people as they are forced to abandon their homes and livelihoods to nationalist projects and capital ventures. I see (to use Karl Polanyi's words) the uprooting of peoples and places, and the destructive forces of market enterprise disguised under tropes of progress and modernity.

Yes. Human beings are creative and industrious, and have dealt with these problems in unique and fascinating ways. But, rather than simply celebrating the Beauty of Human Life, in all it's glory, let this film be a call to recognize this beauty, and recognize its value as intrinsic, as part and parcel to the livelihoods of the people it is embodied within.

I saw Koyaanisqatsi several times in the late eighties and was truly mesmerized. After that Powaqqatsi was a true disappointment. I didn't understand it, to be honest.

Many years later I bought the DVDs and saw them both recently. I still like Koyaanisqatsi, even if it couldn't meet my great expectations. But now Powaqqatsi emerged as a true beauty!

I find the photography and music far superior to that of Koyaanisqatsi. Real people, instead of land- and cityscapes (even if wonderful). Some of the Powaqqatsi scenes are simply breathtaking. African women in clear red cloth against the desert sand, the introductory (horrible) scene from the Brazilian mine, etc, etc.

I strongly recommend all those that were utterly disappointed 10 years ago to see Powaqqatsi again!

Koyaanisqatsi, which is Powaq's predecessor and successor, is my all-time favorite film. It has the beautiful cinematography of Ron Fricke and Godfrey Reggio with the wonderfully-timed score of Philip Glass merged into an emotion-evoking, powerfully mindblowing cinematic experience, after which the viewer feels weak. But watching this, I appreciated the wonderful cinematography and the--ahem--interesting music, but it evoked no emotions inside me, and I felt I hadn't learned anything from it except the things we see in those "You, too, can sponsor a child" television ads. It's quite an experience, and I don't wholly denounce it or condemn it, but I wouldn't expect another Koyaanisqatsi. I hope Naqoyqatsi has "packs the same emotional wallop" of the original.

Powaqqatsi may not be the fast passed time lapse world of Koyaanisqatsi and there is nothing wrong with that. This movie is a counter point to Koyaanisqatsi. Reggios's plan was for a three part series I believe the new movie is almost done. This is not North America. Just think of the time envoled in this shoot, the locations, the stunning cinematograghy. This is the real world. A world where many people still live with out electricity, still hold onto the past, work on the land or sea, work hard for very little. This is movie of world culture. Anyway one who puts this movie down is truly living in a bubble. This is not a movie that gets backing money easily this is a movie of sweat and toil. I commend the filmmaker for taking a risk and creating a visual feast of the developing world that we are destroying.