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Baraka: The Blu-Ray review
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Baraka is available October 28th everywhere
Baraka/1992/MPI/Blu-Ray
Directed by: Ron Fricke
The Plot- The plot doesn't exist, or at least exist as we know it. Baraka is a series of visions of our world, landscapes, architecture, religions, people, and the things we do to occupy our time on this planet. All set to ambient noise and music.
The Good- The good is that I'm about as Zen as a bar fight and I couldn't take my eyes off of this Blu-Ray from the minute I popped it into my Blu-Ray player. MPI Media Group was kind enough to send me a preview copy a few weeks back, but I'll be honest, I took one look at the cover and sort of half-decided that this wouldn't really be something I could get into. So Baraka sat on my TV table, pretty much unmolested until my wife asked me if I'd seen that movie yet. Nope I replied. It's really cool she said. So I loaded Baraka up into the Blu-Ray player and sat totally dumbfounded for the next 90 minutes in awe of the visual/audible trip this movie took me on.
Anyone who dug Discovery channel's Planet Earth series, especially on Blu-Ray, will totally fall in love with this flick. In fact you won't really realize this documentary is missing a narrator- Baraka creates such a sense of profound wonder that it becaomes overwhelmingly apparent that our world can speak very eloquently for itself. Thankfully there are no current buzz-words in Baraka. No natural selection, no intelligent design, just this world we inhabit and how strangely splendid it can be. And for a film made in 1992 it sure doesn't look and sound as old as that implies. The Blu-Ray transfer is perfectly clear. And our world, or at least our natural world hasn't aged much at all.
The Bad- I'll admit it, when I read the title of this film I immediately thought of this Baraka. My gaming history is strong you know...
The Ugly- My wife hated the baby chicken conveyor belt sequence. But that's about as close to ugly as this film will ever get. It's a beautiful film.
The Verdict- Baraka is released tomorrow (October 28th) on Blu-Ray for the first time ever. If you need a movie that transcends the medium, that actually might mean something more than plot and story Baraka is a totally satisfying way to chill out for 90 minutes and ponder the world we live in. I promise that there are images and sounds in this film that will stay with you long after the documentary is over. Take it from someone who has never really been into "arty". If I can speak this highly of a film that has no spoken dialog, and is just a composition of music and optical Earth-candy, it really must be something special.
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