Film 19 (9/7/2005)

Koyaanisqatsi (1983)

Director: Godfrey Reggio

Recommended by: ACLCKWRKORANGE

Has Fentablar seen this before?: No.

Koyaanisqatsi is a fairly stunning piece of film, but not by any conventional means as it is also fairly unique. There are no actors, perse, nor is there a tangible plot. From a fifty-thousand foot view, this film is simply comprised of expert photography with a score.

To some, including myself, this film feels like more than just photography and music. Throughout its course, Koyaanisqatsi takes the viewer on a thematic jouney of human civilization and how it relates to the nature of the world around us. Beginning with sweeping views of natural landscape as well as an interesting comparison between time-lapse photography of clouds and slow-motion photography of tidal waves, all accompanied by a soft yet haunting melody, the premise is set by showing that life, in its natural state, seems to maintain a balance of sorts.

Once the premise is set, Koyaanisqatsi segues into industry by showing how things man-made have changed the landscape and thereby affects the balance. At this point, I started to think that this was going to be some sort of Greenpeace political statement.

Yet after a short while we are moved into the cities, which at first goes along with the upsetting the balance theme. Using time-lapse photography from locations within New York and later Los Angeles, we see how true it is that civilization is in constant motion, day and night, never seeming to rest (i.e., there is nothing to balance it). But something happens in the midst of this - there is a short segment in which we see a closer up view of specific random people walking down the street, some of whom both see and react to the camera. We also see solitary shots of individuals standing in front of the subway as they are going to or from work, and people while they are at work - in factories and elsewhere.

For me, this changed the overall message of this film. Instead of being the typical "industry is killing our planet" message, I think the focus on individuals changes this message to say, "we're losing or have lost sight of the fact that we're all still people, because our devotion to the machines of industry has made it so. There's nothing wrong with industrial progress, but we cannot afford to lose sight of our own humanity." A longer statement, sure, but in my opinion a more poignant one. While we are barraged by images of indudstry and people's part(s) in it, we have brief segments showing very wealthy people interspersed with segments of very poor people. One of the "rich-people" segments, which follows an "inner-city poor people" segment, we see a somewhat posh woman in the back seat of a limousine raising the tinted, reflective window. The idea, of course, being that the very wealthy are ultimately blind to the very poor.

In the end, I will say that this is a very interesting film - in my opinion. If you watch it, it will either leave you with something to think about or you will find it boring. I don't believe there is any middle ground with Koyaanisqatsi.

Ratings (scale of 1 to 5):

Cinematography/Shot Selection: 5/5. Very expertly done photography.

Score/Soundtrack: 4/5. Very good, but it feels like an element is missing. This is commonly my feelings on the works of Phillip Glass.

Thematics: 4/5. Had I seen this film when it was originally released, this category may very well have received a 5/5. In today's world, however, this is not a new theme by any means and therefore simply not as effective.

OVERALL RATING: 4/5

~Fentablar~