Baraka Film Review

Baraka surprised me as I began to watch it. The locations were breathe taking and the activities of the people in each country was incredibly interesting. I thought that it was nice to see a comparison of different cultures, religions, and environments because few have the opportunity to travel the world and embrace the beauty of life. I am really astonished that I understood the theme of the film when it lacks dialogue, or even a plot for that matter. Baraka does not focus on just a few characters in one location, but a wide range of people all over the world. From the various footages, I put the pieces together and came to the realization that the film's purpose was to show the uniqueness of different cultures and remind us that we might have lost touch with mother nature. The cinematography was very unique to the directors. There were a lot of slow zooms and panning. Shots are held fairly long on objects, landscapes, animals, and people to sustain the emotion of the audience. The directors did an excellent job shooting in a variety of angles to make the film more dynamic and entertaining. Lighting was not manipulated or controlled in this film, natural light sources or indoor florescent lights were used. The editing was nothing creative, just simple jump cuts. However, the music choice was creative, though. It ranges from slow tempo music to upbeat and dark. Overall, Baraka deserves a round of applause because it gives us a glimpse on different aspects of life, but was a little odd due to the lack of dialogue and plot throughout the film.

1. I think the film is entitled "breath" because it is a breath of fresh air, or at least new insight about different places around the world.

2. I think the planetary perspective of the film does expresses a critique of the modern world. The film shows footages of different landscapes and animals. Contrasting that, city life and people are shown. The beauty of the landscapes does not compare to the man made buildings and streets. The film seems to reveal the theme that modern society and technology has corrupted nature and that we should get back in touch with nature.

3. After watching Baraka, I got the message that it is important to be exposed to different cultures and appreciate the nature aspect of the world.

4. In this case, the absence of voice and text does put the film at an disadvantage because showing is much more effective than telling. The theme is clearly revealed through the footages shown and dialogue and text would be too distracting.

5.

The Tibetan buddhist monks prayer near Swayambunath stupa, Kathmandu, Nepal is applied to culture in the movie.


Sao Paulo, Brazil is applied to city life in the movie.

The prayer in Nepal relates to nature because it is a natural custom that Nepali people practice and it is not harmful to the environment. The city, Sao Paulo contrasts nature because it shows how modern buildings, streets, cars, and human activities are corrupting nature and does not preserve what is good and pure in the world.



6. I think the monk walking down the street represents the old world of refletion vs the new world of agitation. The old word (religion/ spirituality) tries to compete with the new world (modernization) and they just clash.





The cigarette factory and streets of New York represent how much nature has been altered by humans overtime. Determining whether this change is a positive or negative thing, that I leave to the readers. Religion and spirituality represent the positiveness of society in the new world. It is harmless, pure, and good for one's soul.

7. The images of the refuse heap and the poor show the greediness of the world. While some people are well off financially and have a lot of opportunities, others are forced to take the scraps and suffer. The images show the differences of social classes within countries and the contrast of wealth of many countries.

8. The music transition that stood out to me the most is when it transitioned from a mellow, slow temp song to a upbeat, loud song. The changed in song indicated that the location is changing as well, from a rainforest to an active volcano, perhaps.

9. We watched Baraka because we needed a sense of what our world is about. We needed to be exposed to new places, cultures, religions, customs, and animals. Isolation within our own society, our own country, doesn't do us any good. As long as we are alive, we should be aware of what is around us, the beauty, the culture, the majesty of the world. For me, this vision couldn't have rose up without seeing this film because it's concrete evidence of the positives and good things in life and I would not have the opportunity to travel the world to experience what I saw in this film. This film definitely makes me want to travel the world, embrace it and actually live my life.