Review of Baraka (1992) by Alison C — 24 Aug 2014

"Baraka" proves to be one of the more uniquely if somewhat loosely structured films out there, as it contains no dialogue and only images along with some nonverbal sounds to be heard. The film also jumps from scene to scene quite often, as it takes place over six continents and many nations in a relatively fast pace.

While you do certainly have to pay attention to get the deeper meaning of what these various scenes, you don't have to pay attention too hard as those cleverly nonverbal and indirect ways the film lets us know about these multiple countries is quite effective for the most part (as a couple scenes do seem to drag on or be a little unnecessary).

The cinematography is beautiful as the sceneries and global homelands are portrayed very well. They can even be shown as the harsh truth at times all on its own, from farmers scavenging for what they can salvage at local dump to baby chicks being tossed around (and even getting their beaks burnt) in a factory as a comparison to how fast paced and organized modern cities are in that particular country.

All these reasons show how this film really does live up to the saying "show, don't tell" as there's method to the madness where most scenes have something to imply and/or flow with another scene for comparison.

Whether comparison of rural traditional lifestyles to urban modern lifestyles or religious traditions around the world, the message is clear that no matter where you live we all have enough similarities at heart that overshadow our cultural differences to belong to the human race.

Even though I thought the film could've spent more time on global issues than they did, the ones they do show along with what they else have to offer are good enough reasons for me to recommend this film (unless you only watch films for entertainment values).