Wheels of Words

Today I want to talk about a film which I have seen recently and which has touched me deeply. I am talking about BARAKA by Ron Fricke, which was released in 1992. Baraka is a non-verbal film, so totally dialogue-free. Additionally, it doesn't have any actors, a plot, or a script. The focus is on the images and the music.

Filmed in 24 countries around the world (eg. Argentina, Brazil, China, Egypt, France, India, Iran, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Nepal, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey USA and many more) the images show some of the most stunning, but also most disturbing parts of nature and human life: On the one hand, we can admire natural landscapes, volcanoes, water falls, scintillating stars or indigenous people dancing. You can basically indulge in the beauty life has to offer. On the other hand, we see rapid urban life, images of poverty and are witnesses of destruction of nature. The visual power of each and every image is absolutely amazing as well as the detail in every shot.

Having read quite a number of reviews, I know that Baraka is not a film for everyone. While many viewers found the film an exceptional, humbling experience or even a spiritual journey and meditation, some were criticising the lack of dialogue, some found it boring, and for others the images were pretty disturbing at times, which is definitely true. They are thought-provoking images, but at the same time they make us think and talk about the topics they depict, which is a good thing.

Regardless of the many different views, the film was a great experience for me and I hope I can interest others to watch it, too.

If you want to find out more about the film, here's a link to the website:

http://www.spiritofbaraka.com/

An interview with director Ron Fricke can be found on the following page. Fricke, for example, explains why he chose not to include words in his film or what he sought to convey with Baraka:

http://purecinema-celluloid.webs.com/ronfricke.htm

If you have any thoughts about the film that you want to share please feel free to do so!

All the best,

Judith


PS. This image is taken from http://www.spiritofbaraka.com/
© Copyright 2001 - 2011 SpiritOfBaraka.com

2011 is slowly coming to an end and we would like to take this opportunity to wish our blog readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We know that some of you might not celebrate Christmas, but we want to wish you a wonderful time, too, because we just cannot let this time of year go unnoticed ;)

Appropriate to the occasion Judith included a small clip, taken from the British sitcom “Yes Minister”, one of her favourite British shows. The section shows Sir Humphrey Appleby wishing his MP Jim Hacker Merry Christmas in his very own way. Here's the transcript, hopefully faultless. Judith gave it her best shot ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vShJa6GobFQ

“I wonder if I might crave your momentary indulgence in order to discharge a by no means disagreeable obligation which has, over the years, become more or less established practice within government circles as we approach the terminal period of the year - calendar, of course, not financial - in fact not to put too fine a point on it, Week Fifty-One and submit to you, with all appropriate deference, for your consideration at a convenient juncture, a sincere and sanguine expectation - indeed confidence - indeed one might go so far as to say hope that the aforementioned period may be, at the end of the day, when all relevant factors have been taken into consideration, susceptible to being deemed to be such as to merit a final verdict of having been by no means unsatisfactory in its overall outcome and, in the final analysis, to give grounds for being judged on mature reflection to have been conducive to generating a degree of gratification which will be seen in retrospect to have been significantly higher than the general average.”

We wish you a wonderful Christmas season and a Happy New Year

Judith and Vivienne

The beautiful baroque-style buildings were cast into breath-taking relief as the glass dome of the Academy for Visual Arts and the impressive Frauenkirche reached into the sky. However, not all buildings are actually as old as their architecture suggests. A bombing by the Allied Forces in March 1945 destroyed great parts of Dresden, killing 35.000 people in a matter of hours. For days the city was on fire, firestorms of up to 1000°C razing through the streets. Rebuilding efforts after the war were slow as people were undecided on whether to restore the former baroque character of the city or to replace the ruins with modern buildings. Thankfully, the preservation committee won out and the baroque monuments were rebuilt or renovated.