Content
Baraka has no plot, no storyline, no actors, no dialogue nor any voice-over. Instead, the film uses themes to present new steps and evoke emotion through pure cinema. Baraka is a kaleidoscopic, global compilation of both natural events and by fate, life and activities of humanity on Earth.
Baraka's subject matter has some similarities to Koyaanisqatsi—including footage of various landscapes, churches, ruins, religious ceremonies, and cities thrumming with life, filmed using time-lapse photography in order to capture the great pulse of humanity as it flocks and swarms in daily activity. The film features a number of long tracking shots through various settings, including Auschwitz and Tuol Sleng: over photos of the people involved, past skulls stacked in a room, to a spread of bones. Like Koyaanisqatsi, Baraka compares natural and technological phenomena. It also seeks a universal cultural perspective: a shot of an elaborate tattoo on a bathing Japanese yakuza precedes a view of tribal paint.
Twenty chapters of this film spread over three main sections A1-A3:
- A1: Chap. 01-07: Nature untouched by man – indigenous peoples, their rituals as part of nature being integrated.
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- Chap. 01 – Snow and Ice
- Chap. 02 – Temples
- Chap. 03 – Light and Shadow
- Chap. 04 – The volcano
- Chap. 05 – Galápagos Islands
- Chap. 06 – Iguazu Falls
- Chap. 07 – Africa
- A2: Chap. 08-15: Burglary of technology in nature – Uprooted human interaction with nature and with his kind – War and concentration camps.
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- Chap. 08 – Cigarettes
- Chap. 09 – Public Bathing
- Chap. 10 – Traffic Chaos
- Chap. 11 – Mass Production
- Chap. 12 – Madness
- Chap. 13 – Aircraft boneyard
- Chap. 14 – Shadows of the Past
- Chap. 15 – Terracotta Army
- A3: Chap. 16-20: Old, still living cultures – The architectural remains of past civilizations – Transience and lasting of all human efforts.
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- Chap. 16 – Living on the river Ganges
- Chap. 17 – Sea of Clouds
- Chap. 18 – The Kaaba
- Chap. 19 – Starry sky
- Chap. 20 – Closing credits
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