Review of Powaqqatsi (1988) by Justin N — 15 Nov 2010

Something about it.... I guess didn't register with me. While Koyaanisqatsi was both breathtaking and mind blowing, this... Wasn't. That's not to say it wasn't still really good, because it is. But I kind of have the feeling that they're just saying what they already said in the previous movie.

Like its predecessor, this film is a non-narrative documentary with a lot of time-lapse and slow-motion photography, looking at the relationship with human culture (namely, technology) and nature. And like the previous film, the human race seems to be portrayed (to me, at least) like some sort of virus, spreading throughout the world and covering it completely (see Agent Smith's monologue in The Matrix, then see Koyaanisqatsi, and you'll see the connection). In this film, the human race has already conquered the world, and we see how the "third-world" cultures interact with nature.

It's basically just a more focused version of Koyaanisqatsi, which I guess causes it to suffer. In Koyaanisqatsi, if you ever got bored, you'd be shown something completely different, making you interested again. Not so in this one. It's really the same things for about 100 minutes.

So, I guess I found this to be a bit slow, but it's still amazing to look at, and it's definitely worth seeing if you enjoyed Koyaanisqatsi. Just don't expect it to be a huge improvement.