Publication
Orland Park, Ill. : MPI Home Video, c2001.
Call number
DVD / Front Desk
ISBN
0788603248 / 9780788603242
UPC
030306749723
Original publication date
1992
Collections
CSS Library Notes
Description: Baraka, an ancient Sufi word with forms in many languages, translated as blessing, or as the breath or essence of life from which the evolutionary process unfolds. A transcendently poetic tour of the globe, Baraka was shot in breathing 70mm in 24 countries on six continents.
Set to the life affirming rhythms of varied religious rituals and nature's raw beat, Baraka is a visualization of the interconnectedness humans share with the earth. Spanning such diverse locals as China, Brazil, Kuwait and major U.S. and European sites, among others, Baraka captures not only the harmony, but also the calamity that humans and nature have visited upon the earth. However, mere words do not do the film justice -- Baraka must be seen, felt and experienced to be understood. -- from box
FY2008 / jvsn
Set to the life affirming rhythms of varied religious rituals and nature's raw beat, Baraka is a visualization of the interconnectedness humans share with the earth. Spanning such diverse locals as China, Brazil, Kuwait and major U.S. and European sites, among others, Baraka captures not only the harmony, but also the calamity that humans and nature have visited upon the earth. However, mere words do not do the film justice -- Baraka must be seen, felt and experienced to be understood. -- from box
FY2008 / jvsn
Physical description
4.75 inches
Description
"[A] transcendent global tour that explores the sights and sounds of the human condition like nothing you've ever seen or felt before. These are the wonders of a world without words, viewed through man and nature's own prisms of symmetry, savagery, chaos and harmony." - Container.
Language
Original language
No linguistic content
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User reviews
LibraryThing member papacromer
The word Baraka means "blessing" in several languages; watching this film, the viewer is blessed with a dazzling barrage of images that transcend language. Filmed in 24 countries and set to an ever-changing global soundtrack, the movie draws some surprising connections between various peoples and
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the spaces they inhabit, whether that space is a lonely mountaintop or a crowded cigarette factory. Some of these attempts at connection are more successful than others: for instance, an early sequence segues between the daily devotions of Tibetan monks, Orthodox Jews, and whirling dervishes, finding more similarity among these rituals than one might expect. And there are other amazing moments, as when sped-up footage of a busy Hong Kong intersection reveals a beautiful symmetry to urban life that could only be appreciated from the perspective of film. The lack of context is occasionally frustrating--not knowing where a section was filmed, or the meaning of the ritual taking place--and some of the transitions are puzzling. However, the DVD includes a short behind-the-scenes featurette in which cinematographer Ron Fricke (Koyaanisqatsi) explains that the effect was intentional: "It's not where you are that's important, it's what's there." And what's here, in Baraka, is a whole world summed up in 104 minutes. --Larisa Lomacky Moore Show Less