
Without words, cameras show us the world, with an emphasis not on "where," but on "what's there." It begins with morning, natural landscapes and people at prayer: volcanoes, water falls, veldts, and forests; several hundred Balinese Hindu men perform kecak, the monkey chant. Indigenous peoples apply body paint; whole villages dance. The film moves to destruction of nature via logging, blasting, and strip mining. Images of poverty, rapid urban life, and factories give way to w... (Full plot summary below)
Enjoy FREE movies and series with your Prime (USA) subscription or when you start a 30-day free trial!
Links compiled using automated software. Availability of offers subject to change / might be region specific / out of date.
Without words, cameras show us the world, with an emphasis not on "where," but on "what's there." It begins with morning, natural landscapes and people at prayer: volcanoes, water falls, veldts, and forests; several hundred Balinese Hindu men perform kecak, the monkey chant. Indigenous peoples apply body paint; whole villages dance. The film moves to destruction of nature via logging, blasting, and strip mining. Images of poverty, rapid urban life, and factories give way to war, concentration camps, and mass graves. Ancient ruins come into view, and then a sacred river where pilgrims bathe and funeral pyres burn. Prayer and nature return. A monk rings a huge bell; stars wheel across the sky.
Leave your thoughts about Baraka.
| VarietySuzan AyscoughWords can't do justice to the visual masterpiece Baraka. |
| Killer Movie ReviewsAndrea Chaseimages [and juxtapositions] in BARAKA . . provoke speculation about our place in the cosmos |
| Washington PostHal HinsonNothing in this epic visual poem is less than extraordinary. |
| Antagony & EcstasyTim BraytonAmong the most overwhelmingly gorgeous films ever made. |
| Spirituality and PracticeFrederic and Mary Ann BrussatExtraordinary non-narrative film that enables us to see with our eyes and feel in our flesh that the healing of self and the healing of the planet and inextricably linked. |
| Filmcritic.comKevin SmoklerThis is a film that gazes with such awe at the mystery of life on earth that it seems almost childlike and yet does it in a way so purely cinematic that it can only come from the hands of a wizened master. |
| Metro Times (Detroit, MI)Anita Schmaltz[It] begins like a National Geographic tour....a vacation from dialogue and narrative, traveling strictly on imagery... [but]Baraka gets old before the 93 minutes are up. |
| ViewLondonJennifer TateBreathtaking and serenely beautiful to watch, Baraka is still the visual delight it was twenty years ago, thanks to phenomenal photography, superb editing and a strapping score. |
| Daily Telegraph (UK)Robbie CollinA cinematic gap year of forest temples, baking deserts and teeming cities. |
| Old School ReviewsJohn A. Nesbitwill appeal greatly to any children of the sixties ... who believe in the common unity of mankind and how we all seek the same universal source' |