Review of Baraka (1992) by David S — 05 Feb 2010

Baraka is quite a beautiful movie with an interesting and stunning delivery but with one major flaw, I saw "Koyaanisqatsi." The picture technically has no classification and may end up somewhere between documentary and nature film. Essentially, it's beautiful photography set to music for an hour and a half. It has purpose and an idea behind it, but it's been done.

Let me indulge you on why I rated this lower than the average critic. I mentioned "Koyaanisqatsi" earlier and, for those of you that don't know, that was film made with beautiful camera work and set to music for an hour and a half, and was made a decade previous to this picture. Not only was it made first, but it is vastly superior still. Maybe it was the score by Philip Glass that set it apart or maybe it was the fact that it was more focused in its message.

The reason I adore Godfrey Reggio's "Koyaanisqatsi" so much is the music. The reason I give "Baraka" a fresh review is mostly due to the cinematography. My argument is this, if you give anyone a 70mm camera, more often than not, they'll capture a beautiful image. If someone gave me that camera, I'd be able to shoot just as gorgeous images and edit it together with some bland political/environmental undertones too. On top of that, the music of "Baraka" did nothing for me.

All in all, watch the movie. It's not awful by any means, I just feel bad because it's not original and didn't hold my attention as much as the other film I mentioned.