"Baraka"

I had to go see this film called Baraka tonight for one of my classes and honestly, did not what to expect.  It was described to me as a film without any words but simple scenes and images strewn together to reveal "senses of urban chaos and environmental destruction."  Let me tell you... it was wonderful.  It showed images of a peaceful landscape with clouds swiftly passing through over a time and then would flash to a village with people painted up about to do a dance.  It also would flash to an assembly line with baby chicks moving through a conveyor belt and then show humans running through the subway lines.  These two scenes seemed to be almost parallel to me in that we fall into some what of an "assembly" line whether we realize it or not.  Every day, at least in an urban city, people move from point a to point b and taxis never stop transporting.  This film backs up the phrase "the city never sleeps" and shows just how much of a mass people are really in.  It showed a cross walk in a crowded city and every time the light turned red hundreds of people crossed only to leave the same amount behind waiting for the next opportunity to walk.   The city is an interesting place and just how many people travel amongst it every day? This film brought such different feelings from me in every scene.  The ones including chaos brought stress, poverty- saddness and anger because I could not do anything right that second, and the tranquil images brought a calmness.  It was crazy how just watching the ocean waves crash onto the shore soothed me and then when it showed the train station buzzing with people I almost got over worked with stress thinking of all those people rushing to their destinations.  We are so fast paced and yet I think everyone feels at ease at the sound of nature soothing us, so why are we constantly trying to cover it up?  In every instance it seemed that each culture had its own way of reaching out to the supernatural world.  Whether it was muslims praying, tribes dancing, or something else it revealed the desire within us all to know that something greater exists.  It fascinates me to know how many different religions and beliefs exist in the world and that everyone has eternity set in their hearts.  This film says so much without saying anything at all and took me on a roller coaster if anything, by showing such drastic scenes of peace and chaos- basically I highly recommend it ...