Review of Baraka (1992) by William T — 08 Nov 2013

How does a movie with no words or characters have such a huge impact? I still don't really know but Baraka had that impact on me. This movie came out in 1992 and shows life in many shows and forms. It is a strange but intriguing genre of film but it is amazing. Baraka means hope in English but what it actually means is up to the viewer. From the streets of New York, to tribes in Africa, to clouds floating above mountains, Baraka dives deep into the planet we live on and really made me think.

The shots in this movie, with the music intertwined, were beautiful. A New York Street is shown with the traffic moving like clockwork while drums are playing almost in synch with the traffic. The entire hour and a half movie is like this. This movie touches upon every religion and group of people we have on Earth. The audience sees the different people in the world but we also see how similar we are. Yes a typical American lifestyle is a lot different than the people in other countries that have tattoos and piercings all over their body, but seeing how we share similar problems is brilliant.

Throughout the movie we see the positive and negative aspects of our world, past and present. People are shown happy and sad but no matter what the culture there are shots of people staring right into the camera and into the depths of my soul. They break the cinema wall, in a regular movie actors never stare into the camera, but with Baraka regular people stare right into the camera and the emotional impact is huge. Children stare and you wonder what they are thinking about, are they happy or sad. Most stares are blank and innocent. It shows how innocent people really are and how we take those innocents away.

This movie really made me think about the word we live in and how people treat each other. People are so cruel to each other for no reason. People discriminate based on religion, why? This movie shows each religion I can think of and they basically follow the same principal. We as a species are so similar to each other but we treat one another like garbage. There are shots of Auschwitz and the Cambodian massacre. Human skills and bones still sitting there. These people were killed for no reason and as a viewer it's sad. I loved this movie. It made me think and want to change. I don't judge people but it made me want to make a greater effort to treat people better in general.

Nature of our world is also beautiful. There are shots of animals, specifically monkeys and it is adorable. There is a sequence very early on of a monkey hanging out in a hot bath and it just sits there. A raindrop slightly falls on his nose and it just stars at it as if it's annoyed. It is subtle things like this that I really loved. Nature is truly beautiful if you look at it the right way. Shots of nature were the ones I liked the best, especially waterfalls. I don't know why but I love waterfalls. I also loved the clouds running over mountains like a strong river current. It looked like somebody was stretching out a cotton ball for miles and miles.

Music makes the movie. If you don't believe me, then you're dumb for one. Watch this movie and tell me you didn't like the music in this movie. Philip Glass composed the music and after I saw this movie I immediately got the soundtrack. It's so beautiful and captivating. It captures each individual moment perfectly. Sometimes there are different cultures singing or chanting and sometimes it is natural sound from the world itself. It's repetitive and slow but effective.

Overall, Baraka is a masterpiece. I have never seen a film like this but I want to see more. This is a rare and beautiful genre that makes you think about the world we live in. A movie like this can't be too long and it can be a little boring at times but I watched this movie in the "proper" state of mind. I strongly suggest you watch this movie in the "proper" state of mind, you won't regret it. I will see this movie again and the upgraded blu ray made it ten times better. The picture quality was the best I have ever seen and the sound quality was right up there as well. Baraka gets the WillyT Seal of Approval and the mind blow of the week. Words are not enough to describe this movie enough and it's fitting because there is not one word of scripted dialogue in the film at all.