IMDb > Baraka (1992)
Baraka
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Baraka (1992) -- Trailerfan.com - Trailer (Flash)

Overview

User Rating:
8.2/10   9,031 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 2% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
Constantine Nicholas (treatment)
Genevieve Nicholas (treatment)
Contact:
View company contact information for Baraka on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
November 1993 (USA) more
Genre:
Tagline:
A world beyond words.
Plot:
A movie with no conventional plot: merely a collection of expertly photographed scenes. Subject matter has a highly environmental theme. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
1 win & 1 nomination more
NewsDesk:
(4 articles)
Documentaries of bliss
 (From The Guardian - Film News. 19 November 2009, 3:00 PM, PST)

Myles of Footage: Baraka
 (From SoundOnSight. 4 June 2009, 1:46 PM, PDT)

User Comments:
A Sensual and Spiritual Experience more (125 total)

Additional Details

Runtime:
96 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
2.20 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby SR (35 mm prints)
Company:

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Baraka is an ancient Sufi word, which can be translated "as a blessing, or the breath, or the essence of life from which the evolutionary process unfolds." more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in The Fall (2006) more
Soundtrack:
Host of Seraphim more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
78 out of 82 people found the following comment useful.
A Sensual and Spiritual Experience, 8 July 2002
Author: Howard Schumann from Vancouver, B.C.

Baraka is an ancient Sufi word, translated as a blessing or as the essence of life from which the evolutionary process unfolds. With the theme of man's diversity and his impact upon the environment, Baraka is a documentary photographed on six continents in 24 countries including Tanzania, China, Brazil, Japan, Nepal, the U.S. and Europe. It has no story and no dialogue, yet transcends geography and language to provide a sensual and spiritual experience that enables the viewer to look at the world in a totally different way.

When the film opens, a lone snow monkey sits in the middle of a hot spring, biding its time. The expression on its face is one of deep reflection and weariness. When it looks up at the stars, then closes its eyes, shutting itself off from its surroundings, I sensed my own inner longing for the infinite.

As the film progresses, we see the edge of a volcano in Hawaii, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the Ryoan-Ji temple in Kyoto, Lake Natron in Tanzania, and the fire plains of Kuwait, their oil fires burning after the 1991 Gulf War. Through Fricke's camera, we glimpse various forms of religious expression from the chanting of monks to tribal celebrations in Africa and Brazil.

Baraka is almost like an updated version of Godfrey Reggio's 1983 film, Koyaanisqatsi. Using speeded-up images of hectic big city life with its homelessness and deprivation, interspersed with mountain vistas and forests, it depicts the mechanical nature of modern life as contrasted with the beauty of the natural world.

This film allowed me to see things I never knew existed, and to glimpse patterns of interconnectedness and a sense of balance and proportion in the world I was barely aware of. I was moved to simply look into people's faces and have them look back at me, allowing me to connect with the universality of the human spirit.

Fricke has said that Baraka was intended to be "a journey of rediscovery that plunges into nature, into history, into the human spirit and finally into the realm of the infinite." Unique in its beauty, sensitivity, and perception, Baraka succeeded, in the course of 90 minutes, in moving me from the humdrum of everyday reality to a calmer and more spiritual space

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Message Boards

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Recent Posts (updated daily)User
another location query? tuix00
anyone notice 2 secnes stolen from baraka in the fall mbrooks-20
Brazil scene jasbedrock
Baraka v koyaanisqatsi craig-brown-1
Red flower petal being guided by boy ~ 35min into the film voli_c
Need some help!!! obieboy11
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