Baraka has been a film of interest for me for a
long time. I knew that it was a sort of epic among documentaries and that it contains some of the most incredible imagery ever put to screen. I was also aware that it had zero narration/plot and was solely focused on presenting the scenery, locations, and people accompanied by cultural music in the background.
It didn't disappoint. I loved this film, and it did a lot more than function as a pretty slideshow. It tells a story in its own way through these beautiful and devastating images showcasing cultures and people that we've never seen before, but also landscapes that we're all too familiar with, and how they clash and relate. For being an hour and a half with no dialogue or structure, it's pretty amazing how quickly
Baraka moves along.
This would be a dream film to make, in my opinion. Getting to visit all of these incredible places and people, photographing them to not only show that they still exist out there beyond the world we know, but also how rich and diverse they are. Ron Fricke's methods of capturing these different settings are fascinating to me. At times, it feels like Candid Camera just sweeping through unnoticed, but at others, someone is staring you down. You can feel the history and lives behind the eyes of the people that Fricke focuses on. It was a really clever and unique way to film a documentary that I've never seen before.
I highly recommend at least giving
Baraka a try. It's definitely the best documentary I've seen and has some of the most mind-blowing visuals of anything I've watched.
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