Saturday, April 14, 2007

What is Missing from Baraka

I'm an unashamed fan of the "experimental documentary" Baraka. It's an unusual film, having no dialogue and no plot, but amazing footage. Many people approach it as a slideshow, and will tell me "hey, I saw Baraka; really pretty pictures". As I was falling asleep I had a thought and, in the dark, scribbled it down:

what is missing from Baraka?

I've heard Baraka described by another fan as "a movie that tries to capture everything" or "what God would see if he was looking at Creation". Lofty statements, I admit. But I put down the challenge: what does Beraka fail to show? What does it show?

space, creation, heat, cold, evolution, contemplation, introspection, time, worship, god, rituals, heritage, passing information between generations, the body used for expression, reenactment, our acknowledgement of nature's power, our belief in a higher power, industry, scale, individuality, ...

And that's all before the first strange man in white paint screams!

After that comes death, massacres, war, childhood, play, ... The list goes on. So far it seems to be missing things like love, passion, and nurturing which, for rating reasons, can never be shown in full detail anyway. :)

Watch it closely. What else is missing from Baraka? The challenge is there.

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