By Paul Newman - "Baraka" - Hertfordshire Mercury - Hertford, UKFriday, November 14, 2008
DVD Reviews: Another visual feast this week is Ron Fricke's restored 1992 film Baraka, its title a Sufi term translating as 'blessing' or 'breath of life'.
With its achingly beautiful visuals and hypnotic soundtrack by the likes of Michael Stearns and Dead Can Dance fusing to create a ravishing poem to the planet and mankind's relationship to it, this feels like both.
Fricke was the director of photography on Koyaanisqatsi and this transcendental, uplifting experience sits admirably alongside it as breathtaking footage from 24 global locations weaves majestic panoramas of deserts, mountain ranges and rainforests into exotic wildlife and human society in all its diversity, from time-lapse shots of hurried commuters to Balinese singers performing the Kecak monkey chant, tranquil mystics and exotic shamen.
Baraka is an overwhelmingly rich experience which grows steadily more hypnotic as it progresses, saying much about planet Earth without uttering a word. Simply magnificent.
Extras in this two-disc set include the documentary Baraka - A Closer Look and a feature on the painstaking restoration process.
[Official website http://www.barakathefilm.com/].
DVD Reviews: Another visual feast this week is Ron Fricke's restored 1992 film Baraka, its title a Sufi term translating as 'blessing' or 'breath of life'.
With its achingly beautiful visuals and hypnotic soundtrack by the likes of Michael Stearns and Dead Can Dance fusing to create a ravishing poem to the planet and mankind's relationship to it, this feels like both.
Fricke was the director of photography on Koyaanisqatsi and this transcendental, uplifting experience sits admirably alongside it as breathtaking footage from 24 global locations weaves majestic panoramas of deserts, mountain ranges and rainforests into exotic wildlife and human society in all its diversity, from time-lapse shots of hurried commuters to Balinese singers performing the Kecak monkey chant, tranquil mystics and exotic shamen.
Baraka is an overwhelmingly rich experience which grows steadily more hypnotic as it progresses, saying much about planet Earth without uttering a word. Simply magnificent.
Extras in this two-disc set include the documentary Baraka - A Closer Look and a feature on the painstaking restoration process.
[Official website http://www.barakathefilm.com/].
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