Ron Fricke's meditative opus on birth, life and death is epic filmmaking without banality. Sheltered lolly-gaggers that believe 'Finding Nemo' to be a visual odyssey won't find an ounce of CGI in Fricke's celebration of culture, diversity and global evolution. Natural settings, ancient ruins, dense cities and blazing oil fields are captured with a richness and scope that, driven by Michael Stearns' evocative soundscape, is at once grandoise and poetic, generating a cinematic intensity that has influenced many a documentary since. In the increasingly shrinking individuality of contemporary living, 'Baraka' is a panoramic chain of harmony, purpose and inevitability - ours is a world that is larger than its parts, yet somehow smaller than the spiritual forces that bind it. |
Rating of
4/4 |
