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Named after a Sufi word that translates roughly as "breath of life" or "blessing," Baraka is Ron Fricke's impressive follow-up to Godfrey Reggio's non-verbal documentary film Koyaanisqatsi. Fricke was... read more read more... cinematographer and collaborator on Reggio's film, and for Baraka he struck out on his own to polish and expand the photographic techniques used on Koyaanisqatsi. The result is a tour-de-force in 70mm: a cinematic "guided meditation" (Fricke's own description) shot in 24 countries on six continents over a 14-month period that unites religious ritual, the phenomena of nature, and man's own destructive powers into a web of moving images. Fricke's camera ranges, in meditative slow motion or bewildering time-lapse, over the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the Ryoan-Ji temple in Kyoto, Lake Natron in Tanzania, burning oil fields in Kuwait, the smoldering precipice of an active volcano, a busy subway terminal, tribal celebrations of the Masai in Kenya, chanting monks in the Dip Tse Chok Ling monastery...and on and on, through locales across the globe. To execute the film's time-lapse sequences, Fricke had a special camera built that combined time-lapse photography with perfectly controlled movements of the camera. In one evening sequence a desert sky turns black, and the stars roll by, as the camera moves slowly forward under the trees. The feeling is like that of viewing the universe through a powerful telescope: that we are indeed on a tiny orb hurtling through a star-filled void. The film is complemented by the hybrid world-music of Michael Stearns. ~ Anthony Reed, Rovi

Flixster Users

95% liked it

20,097 ratings

Critics

83% liked it

18 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 36 min.

Directed by: Ron Fricke

Release Date: September 24, 1993

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DVD Release Date: January 25, 2000

Stats: 2,024 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (2,024)

  • jmanard52
    August 28, 2010
    jmanard52
    Over 90 minutes of the most visually stunning filming ive ever seen. A must see on blu ray due to the amazing restoration of the original film to a high def transfer that will put any movie to shame. You will feel like your there. You feel like you can reach into the screen and t... read moreouch it. This is something else.
  • fb701560354
    May 18, 2012
    fb701560354
    Baraka is a one-of-a-kind film that deserves to be seen. Director Ron Fricke has created a film that is stunning, and meditative, and at times even shocking. The camera work and editing has allowed for the visuals to do all the talking; there is not one word of dialogue in Bara... read moreka. I found his message clear and precise, his visuals absolutely breathtaking, the music fantastic, and the film as a whole mesmerizing. The only complaint I have is it's length. It's about 10 minutes too long in my opinion, but Baraka is not to be missed.
  • romy861
    April 18, 2009
    romy861
    Beautiful, but not exactly thrilling entertainment for an hour and a half. Some of it is interesting, some upsetting, like the bit with the chickens getting thrown around and all the human skulls lined up. Some of it not so interesting. If you like photos you will probably lik... read moree this as it is really nicely framed and shot, but if you're looking for entertainment, I would avoid.
  • RCCLBC
    April 16, 2009
    RCCLBC
    Absolutely stunning!
    Completely captivating from start to finish.
  • bbcfloridabound
    March 11, 2009
    bbcfloridabound
    This film kind of lured me in on the previews, showed a monkey in a hot spring so I thought that it would be a nature film, it kind of was, as it showed many locations around the world, the thing that impressed me the most was the Monkey Chant that was done by a tribe in Thailand... read more is my guess. The thing that was very disappointing was the Nazi Concentration camps, the skulls , the piles of bones and the piles of shoes. It was a good one time watch, best seen on a big screen (Wide) TV. not a little 27 inch ole school TV like mine. but 4 stars could have been 5..
  • 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.
  • StarCrossedVoyager
    December 26, 2007
    StarCrossedVoyager
    Truely epic and astonishing and amazing! So calm and gentle but lively and interesting. Awesome.
  • michaelneumann
    April 7, 2007
    michaelneumann
    Spending Easter alone this year and then boarding a plane for Scandinavia in the late afternoon. [url="http://www.devilducky.com/media/41802/"]Beency-bouncy-burger, eh?[/url]

    Have a happy & safe Easter holiday, everybody.
    And thanks to those who voted in my Battle of the Poste... read morers matches (looks like my tombstone's being etched as we speak for that one, but it was close! Congrats to Chairman Meow).

    Movie reviews for another newsletter offering (interest? then follow closely!):


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    [font=Book Antiqua]Though ultimately a ?monster movie? if you want to ascribe it a video store definition, this über-fresh Korean product has much more than scares extending from its slimy tentacles. It?s absurd to think this movie managed to be so gloriously entertaining with such a kinetic spirit and a wide-ranging, dauntless narrative, almost making it an entirely new species of film altogether. This plucky undertaking is an effortless hybrid of terror, suspense, action, drama, tenderness, and comedy, with nimble but assured shifts in emotional tone that made it feel more organic, and satisfying. Even in moments of tragedy, the movie manages to console the audience by tilting overwhelming family grief into hysterical slapstick (trust me, it works), followed minutes later with breathless gangbusters action. There?s an air of ?Little Miss Sunshine? to the dysfunction of the dopey family comedy and tragic setbacks (each family member amply developed enough for empathy, even with economic screen time), and the satirical social commentary, replete with plague fears and government distrust, is in no shortage of effect. The photography and the unexpectedly strong score, too, serve to augment the skin-stiffening horrors and endearing compassions of the movie and for the viewer. ?The Host? is a bizarrely delightful experience, a feverish, genre-splicing beast of a film that immediately ensnared me in its hideous jaws and didn?t let up. It?s a movie I greatly respect for tearing from my calloused self a wide variety of emotional reactions, and should stand as a paramount example of how horror can actually serve as a handmaiden to legitimately poignant storytelling.[/font]
    [b][font=Book Antiqua][size=3]9.5/10[/size][/font][/b]
    [b][font=Book Antiqua][/font][/b]

    [font=Book Antiqua][b]300[/b][/font]
    [font=Book Antiqua]Abs ahoy! Frank Miller?s latest graphic novel adaptation arrives with slightly more swagger (and greased bodies) than ?Sin City,? but no less the excess. As one person put it, it?s the cinematic equivalent of Bill Brasky, one of the tallest tales out there. There are times when ?300? is entrancing as its slow-motion blood poem bombastically unfolds onscreen, swarthy Spartans sluicing through wave after wave of demonic Persians like a salad shooter infomercial, blood gracefully squirting from open neck cavities. But when it bogs down into intermittent lapses between the action, the viewer is allowed to realize, once more, that this movie borders on the ridiculous (such as the painfully cheap storyline with the wife at home and the senator). At times boring? Gasp, it may be true once the hypnosis wears off, but there is enough visual dazzle, snappy one-liners, and a cool enough premise (with wrinkly-applied layers of history) to justify itself as serviceable escapist fare, as well as a Body by Jake portfolio.[/font]
    [b][font=Book Antiqua][size=3]6/10[/size][/font][/b]
    [b][font=Book Antiqua][/font][/b]

    [font=Book Antiqua][b]Zodiac[/b][/font]
    [font=Book Antiqua]?Zodiac? is a fascinating period piece / newsroom sleuth film set in our lovely San Francisco about the infamously unsolved Zodiac Killer murders in the 60?s and 70?s. Alluring, absorbing, and at times disturbing, it invites the viewer into the obsession shared by the protagonists (Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards, Robert Downey, Jr.) in trying to piece together a dizzying parade of overlooked clues and overcome bureaucratic hurdles just to even begin knowing where to look for the Zodiac killer. Expertly, the movie leads and misleads, mirroring reality, never really being able to conclude what was a red herring and what wasn?t. There is subtle finger-pointing, but it?s more about the quiet destruction of the characters whose lives they just couldn?t untangle from the Zodiac mystery. And, it does a brilliant job book-ending the movie with Donovan?s creepy ?Hurdy Gurdy Man,? both an emblem of the cultural era and of the slow unsettling atmospherics of the film.[/font]
    [b][font=Book Antiqua][size=3]8.5/10[/size][/font][/b]
    [b][font=Book Antiqua][/font][/b]

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    [font=Book Antiqua]Hilarious, Ferrell?s best yet (yes, better than Anchorman and Talladega Nights), but with a great comedic cast all-around and a story the filmmakers never gave up on. ?It makes my hair shine like the Belt of Orion.?[/font]
    [font=Book Antiqua][size=3][b]8/10[/b][/size][/font]

    [font=Book Antiqua][b]Grindhouse[/b][/font]
    [font=Book Antiqua]Planet Terror = thumbs up. Death Proof = meh. Rodriguez?s zombie romp (Planet Terror) was basic but a lot of fun. Dang that Tarantino, who has a frustrating habit of pandering to the masses without much buildup, and is clueless like a small child on how to do anything remotely worthy of the viewer?s emotion outside of kick-butt action twists and soundtrack-soaked style. At least Kurt Russell was great.[/font]
    [font=Book Antiqua][size=3][b]6/10[/b][/size][/font]
  • gator681
    September 12, 2005
    gator681
    [font=Century Gothic][color=darkgreen]"Baraka" is a mesmerizing cinematic essay that takes the viewer on a tour of the world; one that is wordless but set to music. It shows the amazing diversity of cultures from rural to urban; primitive to sophisticated and everything in betw... read moreeen. This amazing documentary is almost constantly in motion; it occasionally takes a moment to record something at rest. [/color][/font]
    [font=Century Gothic][color=#006400][/color][/font]
    [font=Century Gothic][color=navy]"With All Deliberate Speed" is a documentary made on the fiftieth anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board of Education which struck down the doctrine of separate but equal established in Plessy v. Ferguson(1896) and ordered the desegregation of schools 'with all deliberate speed.' It looks at the events leading up to the momentous decision and also afterwards focusing on two of the five school districts named in the suit, Clarendon County, SC and Prince Edward County, Va. Clarendon County has fared the worse of the two districts and continues to fight in the courts for suitable education.(One of the reasons a quality public education is important is possibly allowing some of its poorer citizens to escape a perpetual cycle of poverty.) I already knew most of the history involved, so I would have liked it if this documentary had focused on more of the events following the decision, especially on the battle over busing in Boston in the 1970's to show that segregated schools are not simply a phenomenon of the South.[/color][/font]

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Critic Reviews

Fred Camper
March 23, 2010
Fred Camper, Chicago Reader

The film's one-world thesis is asserted but never made convincing, as Fricke zigzags from the Western Wall to whirling dervishes to the Grand Mosque of Mecca in a superficial gloss on faith (and every... Full Review

Patrick Z. McGavin
January 9, 2003
Patrick Z. McGavin, Chicago Tribune

The form is ravishing, though the content suffers by comparison.

Roger Ebert
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

Hal Hinson
January 1, 2000
Hal Hinson, Washington Post

Nothing in this epic visual poem is less than extraordinary. Full Review

Andrew L. Urban
April 2, 2009
Andrew L. Urban, Urban Cinefile

Critics and audiences have struggled to find the right words to describe the effect Baraka has on them for 16 years; but it seems appropriate to be speechless after seeing this wordless masterpiece of... Full Review

Andrea Chase
April 5, 2003
Andrea Chase, Killer Movie Reviews

images [and juxtapositions] in BARAKA . . provoke speculation about our place in the cosmos Full Review

Anita Schmaltz
January 13, 2003
Anita Schmaltz, Metro Times (Detroit, MI)

[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. Full Review

Jeffrey M. Anderson
August 30, 2002
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid

Baraka's major strength is its realization that life happens all over the world and not just in America. Full Review

Kevin Smokler
August 15, 2002
Kevin Smokler, Filmcritic.com

This 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 ma... Full Review

John A. Nesbit
August 11, 2002
John A. Nesbit, Old School Reviews

will 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' Full Review

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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 »
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