Samsara

2012 • 102 minute

Meer oor hierdie fliek

Prepare yourself for an unparalleled sensory experience. SAMSARA reunites director Ron Fricke and producer Mark Magidson, whose award winning films BARAKA and CHRONOS were acclaimed for their combining visual and musical artistry. SAMSARA is a Sanskrit word that means "the ever turning wheel of life" and is the point of departure for the filmmakers as they search for the elusive current of interconnection that runs through our lives. Filmed over a period of almost five years in twenty-five countries, SAMSARA transports us to sacred grounds, disaster zones, industrial sites, and natural wonders. By dispensing with dialogue and descriptive text, SAMSARA subverts our expectations of a traditional documentary, instead encouraging our own inner interpretations inspired by images and music that infuses the ancient with the modern.

Graderings en resensies

This is like watching a digital photo/movie album whose processor has become sentient enough to pick out beauty and draw connections between images. There are no actors, conventional plotlines or narrative... Except for those that you toss together from the visuals. Toss this into the bin of films I would watch inside of an altered state of mind... But not with a bowl of popcorn on movie night.

If you don't mind some pretty boring music accompanied by equally very boring images, then by all means rent or purchase Samsara. It really needs some descriptive text or a voice over to define where and perhaps when the cinema was created. All we see is slow monotonous panning of the camera and music that will put you to sleep. Many of the images were beautiful and the photography was exceptional but some of the scenes especially the one with what appears to be a college professor smearing mud all over his face, made no sense at all since there was no reason given why he was doing that. I think that if the music had a better tempo and there was a voice over describing where the scenes are located, it would be much better.

Unparelleled opportunity to view our world from multiple venues. Exceptional photography places you in the moment. Music excellent choice over text or speech. Leaves the opportunity for an open mind to feel the subject matter go straight to your mind and emotions. The juxtaposition of the dark side of humanity to the bright side provides the audience with a fact-based view of our world. From this vantage point, we cannot help but reflect on our own existence. Superbly filmed, edited and produced.