Saturday, March 9, 2013

MOVIE REVIEW: SAMSARA

SAMSARA, from the Sanskrit, means the eternal cycle of birth, suffering, death, and rebirth.  
Samsara  is also a “.... 2011 documentary filmed over 5 year in 25 countries in 5 continents on 70 millimeter (high def, I think).  It transports sacred grounds, disaster zones, industrial complexes and natural wonders.”  [International Movie database.]  Countries featured: LOTS.  Watch with someone so you can play a game of “Where is this?” as the film stuns you with both visual beauty and disturbing images. Then watch the credits and crow when you guessed correctly.  There are some famous places it would be hard not to know, and then LOTS that are not so obvious, at least not to us.  No spoiler alert, but we had been to some of the places in the film.
 I enjoyed much of this film, which by the way has zero dialogue, but I think the director should have put a little ticker along the bottom telling you where the footage was shot to save the annoyance.  There were 2 previous films by this director, BARAKA and KHRONOS. I am intrigued enough by the visual beauty of this one to explore the others.  This movie has been described as a “…nonverbal guided meditation” that is   “frustrating as it is beautiful. “ If the director would have asked me, I could have saved him the second comment.  I highly recommend this film, although I did tell S. if you watched it regularly it could make you want to (1) never eat meat again, and (2) never consume anything ever.  However, I still recommend watching it.  The beauty of many of the shots is, literally, beyond words.  I rented it via iTunes.

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