Baraka poster & wallpaper

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 f...( read more  read more... )orests; several hundred monks do a 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.

Flixster Users

97% liked it

16,634 ratings

Critics

88% liked it

17 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 36 min.

Directed by: Ron Fricke

Release Date: September 24, 1993

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: January 25, 2000

Stats: 1,760 reviews

Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites
report incorrect info

Photos

Baraka Baraka Baraka Baraka Baraka Baraka Baraka Baraka Baraka Baraka
Upload a Photo |

View All Baraka Photos (10)

Your Rating


clear rating

Flixster Reviews (1,760)

  • her69eyes
    May 16, 2009
    her69eyes
    If you ever want to feel insignificant, have I got the film for you!

    To say "Baraka" was an ambitious project is an understatement. Afterall, it's really just a film about... well, Earth. It's a meditation on our planet disguised as a travelogue of all the corners of the world. ...( read more)The film has no narrative structure or arc. In fact, following a screening of the film at Roger Ebert's film festival, producer Mark Magidson and director Ron Fricke explained that they would have to cut it differently had things started making sense. Some images come whirling by in montage, others linger. One minute you're in Nepal, and the next you're in New York City. While it seems like a 90-minute film of seemingly random images without narration would be tedious, it's remarkably touching. Everyone in the theater I saw it with sat in silence throughout the whole running time, mesmerized by the images. Strangely enough, this odd montage of a film is a deeply spiritual experience.

    Madgison and Fricke, using 70mm film, traveled to 24 countries on 6 continents to film "Baraka". Many of these locations were planned in advance, and others were found by mistake. There are a few brief images of a sort of palace made of crystal and glass that i'd never seen before, as awe-inspiring as it was. That was one of said "mistakes". As well as filming landscapes and architecture, people are heavily focused on. Making a film about "human beings" is no less ambitious than making a film about Earth's wonders, and Madgison and Fricke do a commendable job of showcasing everyone from Latin American tribes to Australian aboriginals. Our animal neighbors have their moments to shine as well, whether it be a long shot of a thick layer of birds from above or a simple glimpse of a monkey in a pool.

    The image of said monkey in a pool is one of the first in "Baraka", and it sets the tone wonderfully. We linger on a close up of the face of the creature for a very long time. Everyone in the audience is attracted to it's eyes and it's facial expressions. We think about what it may be thinking. We're universally connected. From that point on, it's all the more easier to relate to our fellow man after seeing familiarity in the eyes of a tranquil monkey.

    I don't know if you can write about "Baraka" without sounding pretentious. But, to dismiss the film as pointless and masturbatory is to miss out on a wonderful experience. It's a film about everyone and everything, and it's presented in a manner unlike anything you've ever seen before. It's a fascinating meditation on our planet, and certainly a film that stays with you long after it's over. A delight to see, and a film worth seeing if only because you'll never see another film like it.
  • RCCLBC
    April 16, 2009
    RCCLBC
    Absolutely stunning!
    Completely captivating from start to finish.
  • gilbertgumphrey
    April 14, 2009
    gilbertgumphrey
    It's very difficult to describe the experience of watching Baraka without sounding ridiculous. Certainly, it's hard to talk about the movie to people who haven't seen it without making it sound like the most boring flick ever made. One has to describe it like this - a 90 minute...( read more) long documentary with no words or talking, mostly focused on nature, life, death, human suffering and the world's beauty. It doesn't sound thrilling - that's probably why I avoided watching it for so long. But let me assure you that words about the film are just as useless as words in the film. It's one of the most breathtaking, beautiful, eye-popping, stunning movie-going experiences you'll ever have. I thought my top 20 movies of all time was completely untouchable - I haven't added a new movie there in years. As soon as Baraka was finished, it made it on there. That's really saying something; hell, Dark Knight didn't even bust my top 20.

    So yes, Baraka is a documentary. Yes, it has no dialogue. No, it is not silent, and no, it is not ever remotely boring. There isn't a minute of this movie that goes by where I'm not endlessly fascinated, stunned, overwhelmed, overpowered. Even when the film becomes, momentarily, creepy and disturbing and endlessly sad, it's still impossible to look away, to break your eyes from the beauty on screen. Cause yes, as lame as it sounds, this is truly a beautiful movie, maybe the most beautiful I've ever seen. The first half hour alone is enough to make you not only feel spiritually uplifted, but to actually think this crazy-ass world of ours is not so bad afterall.

    Of course, after that first half hour, the movie turns away from showcasing beautiful landscapes, gorgeous nature scenery/footage, and bizarre yet incredible tribal chants, dances, and ceremonies. The middle section of the film focuses on humans, and mostly not the good stuff either. There's a ten minute sequence that is almost completely time-lapse photography of a large Asian city, and it's impossible to watch it without your jaw hitting the floor (I'm not so jaded as to not mention I've now seen this film twice stoned, and this part never fails to make me gasp :P). How they managed to get such slow, fluid camera movements during the time lapse is something I don't know, and don't really want to know. Let's keep the mystery. The movie also begins to focus on the human tragedies, such as homelessness, poverty, and even the Holocaust (this is where the movie becomes a little too creepy and tedious; one of it's very few flaws). But the last half hour goes back to focusing on ancient ruins, more tribal customs, and even more gorgeous nature scenery, and ends with a scene of almost transcendant quality.

    I know that the movie was filmed by a crew of only 3 people, taking 14 months to shoot in over 25 countries. The footage they brought back is not what you'd expect, and that's why it's so stunning. The camera work is simply some of the best I've ever seen, in any film. It almost always moves, in such a smooth and flowing manner, gliding around or into some of the most intersting things I think this world has to offer. There's no standard shaky-cam documentary work going on here. The editing is more invisible than the cinematography, but just as important. It holds on shots for a long enough time that we can encompass all the wonderful things within the frame, but not so long that it loses our attention. Special attention must be paid to the music, which is simply one of the best film scores I've ever heard. I can't think of any other example where music and visuals were so indeliably linked in a movie. Mute this film, and you won't enjoy it. Half the experience is in the music, which is so weird, so unexplainable, yet so unmistakably beautiful and haunting and relaxing and enlightening. Very little of the film is played without music, and that's a good thing - the scenes without music wind up becoming slightly more tedious than the others.

    I haven't done a good job at explaining the film. Well, maybe I've explained the content, but not the impact it has on the viewer. Many of you will be bored to death by the movie - that's fair, I guess. I showed it to three other film school friends last night, and two of them were so relaxed it put them to sleep. But I can't get enough of it. I'm not really sure what it all means, or what the special significance is behind the shots and why they were put together in the order they were. All I know is - this is not your ordinary, every day documentary, nor your ordinary every day movie. It's better than that. There's no voice over narrations telling you about the cultures we see. There's no subtitles on the bottom explaining what country we're in. There's no boring behind-the-scenes stuff explaining how the camera crew worked and what it all means. There's simply the visuals, and the music, and there they are, and here we are. Yes, the movie gets a little too creepy, and yes, it runs for a little too long (in my opinion, they should've cut out that entire disturbing sequence of the film, which sort of spoils the epic-beauty groove of the flick). But even with these flaws, it's one of the most powerful films I've ever seen. I love it to death. Go see it.
  • kenstachnik
    February 2, 2009
    kenstachnik
    Very pretty, but not much else. It's the worlds best location scout video
  • RossCollinsUK
    December 14, 2008
    RossCollinsUK
    Evocative cinema. Emotive scenes of life on Earth, with an almost spiritual, chanting soundtrack. Samples were used in lots of New Age bands' albums, like Delerium.
  • siemprejuntoalmio
    November 5, 2009
    siemprejuntoalmio
    THIS IS MY NUMBER ONE FAVORITE MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • kzhope
    November 4, 2009
    kzhope
    Baraka es un documental filmado en 24 países por el fotógrafo y cineasta estadounidense Ron Fricke. Este trabajo esta íntegramente compuesto por distintas tomas acerca de la naturaleza y el hombre en distintos lugares, todo esto filmado en el majestuoso, aunque poco usual,...( read more) formato de 70mm.

    Describir esta película en una oración resulta sumamente ingenuo y poco atractivo: un documental sin diálogo ni narrativa que se aleja de un tema específico y que dura tanto como una película de ficción; sin embargo, Baraka va mucho más lejos que eso. Se trata de un filme que trasciende por mucho tanto a su autor como al concepto mismo de documental, es por eso que se prescinde de cualquier diálogo o historia, pues Baraka es una película concebida para dejar a las imágenes hablar el idioma del mundo.

    A lo largo de la película coexisten tres tipos de imágenes: paisajes y maravillas naturales, muestras del ser humano, su espíritu y su cultura y un espejo a lo que hoy es el mundo de los hombres. El fin máximo de Baraka, mayor incluso que el simple disfrute de la cinematografía, es la reflexión a la que nos mueve el hecho de encontrarnos con el hombre y con la naturaleza en tan puro estado.

    ¡Qué es el hombre?, pareciera tan ajeno a su entorno, un ser que parece encontrar su progreso únicamente en la destrucción de lo que lo rodea, desde el hombre primitivo que derriba un árbol para prender fuego en él, hasta las corporaciones madereras que terminan con extensiones gigantescas de selva con tal de tener materia prima. Pero, al ver Baraka, descubrimos en el ser humano a una criatura de igual espíritu y fuerza que el mismo universo, una conjunción que va más allá de la tierra o del hombre: vuela hacia lo infinito.

    El ritmo forma parte fundamental de la película; por un lado, la naturaleza parece moverse de forma monumental, cíclica y pausada; mientras la urbanidad del hombre se nos muestra completamente mecánica en su ritmo. Como es fácil notar, la música merecería toda una reseña propia, sin embargo, lo más importante es decir que crea en el espectador un sentimiento de paz y de viaje espiritual, siendo una banda sonora muy diversa y que sabe callar por momentos para dejar hablar a la voz del mundo y de la naturaleza humana.

    Baraka no TIENE fotografía, Baraka ES la fotografía; tan lejos como ha llegado la imagen en su perfección, este documental es una clase de cinematografía a cada momento. Un viaje placentero que nos mueve a la reflexión y que nos lleva a conocer más del mundo que nos rodea y de nosotros mismos, una experiencia cinematográfica ineludible.

    *****
  • ElCochran90
    October 18, 2009
    ElCochran90
    BARAKA (1992)


    Director: Ron Fricke
    Country: United States of America
    Genre: Documentary
    Length: 96 minutes

    ...( read more)rakaRonFricke.jpg" target="_blank">Photobucket

    In order to start with my Baraka review, I definitely must make myself clear with the following point: My evaluation standards for a film are completely different from those I have for grading a documentary. Since both belong to totally different categories, documentaries can't be really considered as movies. In fact, a documentary is a genre itself. Whereas films are useful for narrating a particular story, being either original or based in any bibliographical or artistic source (including autobiographical portraits), through acting, directing and a prior screenplay, the magic of documentaries come directly from the fact that they represent a small portion of reality of a small part of the world seen through the eyes of a director. There is no acting nor script whatsoever... A documentary counts with a rather small filming crew willing to show their own vision to the rest of the world.

    The complicated part of making documentaries is the total money won once it is finished and released in specific movie theatres and festivals, if possible. Not all of them have the luck of being released to a considerably wide audience. The most famous case I know is Michael Moore, whose documentaries like Bowling for Columbine (2002), Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) and Sicko (2007) are among the most famous modern ones and among the most seen as well, not to mention the Academy Award he won for Bowling for Columbine. However, you don't always have the necessary support from the government so you can document any ideas that you want to show to general audiences. This is what "totalitarian control" means.

    Baraka is the most beautiful, sensual, relaxing, moving, touching, inspiring and epic experience I've ever lived in my whole life. That's right: Baraka is the most beautiful film (documentary, actually) I've ever laid my eyes on. Moreover, it is the best achieved and most ambitious project that has ever been made. Ron Fricke proved his talent as a filmmaker for the very first time with the short documentary called Chronos (1985), and then consolidated it in the year of 1982 being the screenwriter and cinematographer of Koyaanisqatsi (1982), documentary that would be a part of a trilogy directed by Godfrey Reggio. Ron Fricke finally shows through Baraka that his cinematographic ability is capable of adapting itself entirely to what his senses perceive with Baraka.

    The most impressive aspect is that this golden jewel was filmed by a crew of just 3 people in a 14 month period in 24 countries which are the United States of America, Kuwait, Cambodia, Poland, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, Ecuador, China, Nepal, Brazil, Egypt, India, France, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Japan, Argentina, Kenya, Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, Vatican City and Italy, all of them covering 6 out of 7 continents that can be found on Earth. Analyze these numbers, please! It ain't only an exhaustive, constant and arduous work, but it may have also been the most meaningful and ambitious transcontinental experience this crew could ever have in their lives. I bet anybody would do almost anything so he/she could have such a unique experience.

    Baraka has no plot, nor actors, nor a single spoken dialogue; none of those things were really needed. Baraka is about the world itself. It doesn't include any kind of propagandistic material or scandalous commentaries about the destruction of the world, the cruelty of man, racism, war, racial prejudices or any kind of violence and discrimination because of races or religion. The only thing Baraka does is to travel to the confines of the world to show the beautiful, natural and artistic side of the flora and fauna present on the planet, the impressively vast diversity of existent customs and habits around the globe, the contrast of life conditions in different regions of the world, the various faces of several races that human being has created as millennia have gone by, the architectonic beauty that some wonders of the world have in and out of them, and the colossal contrast that nowadays exists between rural zones, sylvan areas and completely industrialized cities, ruled by constant work, traffic, noise, pollution, lights and technology. If we put all of that together in a documentary, Baraka is what we get. And no, I'm not talking about the Mortal Kombat character.

    The first detail that mandatorily must be mentioned is the musical score. Besides being incredibly relaxing, inspiring, reflexive and harmonious, it has also diverse styles and suits perfectly for each region of the world portrayed in all of the sequences. It could be said that it is the music itself the one that divides the documentary in its parts: nature, developing countries, developed countries, the world's most powerful nations, eastern culture, the wonders of the world, among others. Occasionally, the musical score is completely omitted in order to add greater emotiveness and a feeling of void or sadness in some particular scenes. Baraka is perfectly synchronized.

    The second detail of greater relevance is the photography. Baraka has the definition of cinematography written all over it throughout. Baraka consists of expertly photographed images. In fact, the essence of the documentary couldn't have been more beautifully captured if it wasn't because of Ron Fricke. The reason why I do not dare to mention some of the best cinematographers in cinema history is simply because Ron Fricke wanted to express an infinite number of ideas through the use of spellbinding images so they could talk by themselves. It is the most evident proof that "an image is more worthy than one thousand words". Each image has the most appropriate length and each sequence has the necessary emphasis so they can transmit the emotion to the viewer that precisely was pretended since the beginning.

    The magic of Baraka emanates from the fact that it gives to the viewer an experience that must be lived so it can be fully appreciated. Baraka shouldn't be seen; it should be lived. The bigger your screen is, the more your screen will literally swallow you. The full description of what Baraka ends up transmitting goes beyond words; therefore, I find a little bit of inconvenience when I express the majesty that this almost-lost gem involves.

    Baraka is the only documentary with the length of a feature film that has received a perfect score from me. If we considered short documentaries, the one that achieved this honor is Nuit et Brouillard (1955), directed by Alain Resnais, of which I will write another review someday. Baraka has reached the pinnacle of perfection in cinematography and harmony. Baraka is progress, evolution, the world itself, or at least the healthy part of it that still breathes. In fact, "baraka" is an ancient Sufi word that means "as a blessing, or the breath, or the essence of life from which the evolutionary process unfolds".

    100/100
  • wannabegoaly
    September 8, 2009
    wannabegoaly
    This film is a visual and audio soundtrack masterpiece! This film has by far the best visuals of any film I have ever seen. Just amazing natural camera shots of some the world's most beautiful places.This film without words shows the world in the different eyes of the people that...( read more) live in it. It shows people at their worst and sometimes at their best. This movie is a visual and spirtiual masterpiece.
  • jmankas
    September 8, 2009
    jmankas
    Ron Fricke is a fuckin' cinematography genius!!! astonished, perplexed, shocked, almost crying my soul out, that's how i was like the whole movie. human condition, culture, traditions, beliefs, society, nature, everything is fabulosily shown in this doc. the soundtrack is unbelie...( read more)vable, put perfectly in the key moments. unfortunatly, 5 stars is the maximum we can give for perfection.

View All Baraka Reviews

Critic Reviews

January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

It is claimed that the great age of travel is dead - that there are no longer amazing, exotic, beautiful and fearsome places for the traveler to discover. A movie like Baraka gives hope. full review

View more Baraka reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments

This board looks lonely. Be the first to talk about "Baraka" !

Post A Comment | View All Comments

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

All Rotten Tomatoes content is used under license from Rotten Tomatoes. Rotten Tomatoes, Certified Fresh, and the Tomatometer are the trademarks of Incfusion Corporation, d/b/a Rotten Tomatoes, a subsidiary of IGN Entertainment, Inc.

Official Trailer

View Larger Baraka Trailer

Cast

No information available.

More Like This

Click a thumb to vote on that suggestion, or add your own suggestions.

  • War Dance
    War Dance (0%)
  • The Fall
    The Fall (67%)
  • Ashes and Snow
    Ashes and Snow (67%)
  • Everest
    Everest (100%)

More Movies like Baraka

Facts

No facts approved yet. Be the first

Baraka : Watch Free on TV

Baraka Trivia

  • Which of the following characters does not appear on the first Mortal Kombat film?  Answer »
  • This movie, shot in many countries around the world and without dialogue, was inspired by its director's work on Koyaanisqatsi.  Answer »
More Baraka Trivia

Movie Quizzes

No quizzes for Baraka. Want to create one?

Video Clips

Upload a Video |

All Baraka Videos

Meet Other Fans

Add Baraka to favorites

Recent News

No recent headlines. Got one?

Recent Lists

Make a List |

View All Lists

Most Popular Skin

No skins yet. Interested in creating one?