Baraka is a 96 minute visual extravaganza, an unfolding journey with both beautiful and ugly images juxtaposed, leading from one silent scene to the next. Silent as in no narration, however the director and cinematographer, Ron Fricke, wisely chose mesmerizing music scored by Michael Stearns, from Dead Can Dance, L. Subramanian, Ciro Hurtado, Inkuyo, Brother, and David Hykes. Shot in 70mm, in 1992 and remastered in 2008, this incredible film spans locations in over 20 countries, varied cultures, ceremonies, traffic patterns, faces and faces, interspersed with familiar and unfamiliar natural events and landscapes.
The film was both relaxing and distressing to watch, almost too rich in detail...a young boy sitting alone against a wall, covered with a blanket partially. He holds something in his hand, a plastic toy dinosaur, perhaps, then you notice one toy car at his side and maybe you wonder, as I did, if that is all he has in this world.
Although there are no actors or plot, only subtle and not-so-subtle themes, this film left each of us just as wordless as Baraka. I look forward to watching the sequel, "an arguably darker, updated version" with the title Samsara. Warning: four out of four people who watched Baraka in my house experienced vivid and exhausting dreams that night.
Everything2...other nodes incorrectly state Philip Glass' involvement as well as postulate Ron Fricke's intent (JUST WATCH THE MOVIE)
Wikipedia
youtube Dead Can Dance (The Host of Seraphim)
www.barakasamsara.com