www.blog.vcu.edu/arts/eventsBARAKA is a film that I must say is
un-like any film I have ever seen. This film is strictly just a film with no sound, it is a matter of using your sight as well as using
your cognitive skills to piece together what exactly is going on. One might say that this film is boring, but I enjoyed it! It was an amazing experience. This film viewed the diversity from all over the world, as well as gave us some insight on different sceneries and animals.
This movie visited many different countries(which I found it easy to identify them because due to the symbols and statues it became obvious to me). With these countries you were able to see their land, the way that they live, the historical sites as well as statues, symbols, prayer and ritual. Remember there is no sound, and seldomly you heard music and different rhythms, therefore through out this movie you had to pay close attention and use your knowledge to get the general concept of what is really going on.
The movie began with mountains which were covered in snow...they suddenly began melting and birds started to fly back near the mountains, which gave a clue that winter was ending and they were coming back to a warmer place. It suddenly switched over to India. How do you know it was India? Well I found this obvious due to the nature of prayer and the symbols that were used. They displayed buildings and the city life, through out the city you saw people on the street carrying food and there were two men painting something symbolic on a wall. They switched over to a group that was praying with some type of painting on their foreheads.
There was a beautiful scene with water flowing and suddenly crashing against rocks, there were animals on the hills and suddenly there was a female who was carrying fruits and vegetables. There was a beautiful greenery scene with old statues in the middle of a deserted forest. There appeared to be some ancient Buddhist art on the wall which gave off that this was an Asian country. Another scene focused on a group of men with no shirts which appeared to be participating in some type of ritual.. There were men of all ages using their hands and chanting something that was unknown. One group would lay down while the other group swayed their hands and moved their fingers, it appeared as they were pushing/shrubbing something away from their bodies.
One of the sceneries was an empty green hillside, there was also a volcano which was ready to erupt, there was an intense use of music and you could see the redness of the lava flowing. There was smoke evolving all over the area. After this scene, komodo dragons became visible; and they were just stacked on top of each other. Followed by ancient drawings on stone, and suddenly there was a face of a dark man and there was a woman painting him. There were naked young girls who appeared to be of the Native American culture..or perhaps could have been of Central America or the Incan culture of Peru(South America). They were holding hands, and there were different colors of string that on them. There was a man chanting and doing body movement while kids sing.
It switched over to a different culture, which appeared to of the African descent. There were bald women and everyone was in jewels, bouncing up and down. Suddenly someone was sawing down a huge tree which ended up falling down on the land; a large amount of ants began pouring out. It then took us back to a city, this appeared to be a run down city. There many many kids who were just sitting at their windows, while other kids were walking up and down the streets. There was a change(not sure if it was in the same city where the kids were looking out of the window) but there were several woman working in a factory. They were each doing a different task, they did appear to be Asian but not of the chinese descent; perhaps they were Indonesian or from the Phillipes.
There is suddenly a city with a mall, and there are Asian men walking through the streets ringing a bell. There were several men who appeared to be in a jacuzzi in a spa and there was one man who stuck out and was very noticable. He had symbolic tattoos beginning from around his neck area down to his upper thigh. There was a new city which was flooded with people, there were cars and a lot of traffic. There were people on the subway and there were children who were in school. There was a factory which baby chickens and they were burning the tip of the beaks, the grown chickens were put into cages; which gave me the assumption that these chickens were being used for sale.
A new city had a mak working while a mule pulled him and his wagon. There was a group of people which consisted of children and families picking through the trash for food. There was a lady on the street with her children, and they had food and blankets. There was a small child on the street with a blanket and he appeared to be asking for money, kids were sleeping on the streets. There appeared to be a woman on the street, it was obvious she was a prostitute. There were 8 young girls with makeup on, standing outside of a strip club; assuming that these women were prostitues. You got the assumption that this country or city had major issues with poverty and they had to turn to any means possible for food as well as money.
Suddenly there was a different scene, it appeared to be of a deserted jail, there were pictures of inmates' shoes, I got the idea that maybe this was some type of camp? They all had #'s, and there were skulls of the dead as well as people's bones, all these people were asian. There were many statues of people lined up, perhaps these were all of the people who dies. Suddenly you are taken to Egypt, there is desert sand and statues. The next countries is most likely India, and the girls are bathing their hair in the water, the men are bathing in the water as wel. There are dead bodies which are being burned.
Baraka was an amazing movie. It took you to many different countries, where you were able to view different cultures and ways of life. Some countries had a life which consisted of being on land and participating in several rituals..some countries had more of a city life...and there were other countries which suffered severe poverty and had to search for food. This movie viewed the diversity all over the world and the lives that many people live as well as the environment. For example in Egypt you see the scenery which is covered with sand, than there were other countries where you saw majority of the country was filled with greenery. Different cultures and environment were percieved in this movie, and it was a great experience.
