The Film Baraka as a Collage of Images from Around the World - Essay Example

s the assignment was due Baraka, the movie A thought that is ‘seeded’ or impregnated into a film maker’s mind is outputted in his or hers work or films. That impregnation of thought could be initiated or influenced by the environment in which the filmmaker lives. So, most times a Filmmaker writes, directs and films what he/she sees, feels and lives. The filmmaker’s mind is like a visual interpreter, which translates and interprets the ideas, incidents, happenings, environment, culture etc into cinematic form with the aid of ‘aides’. When the filmmaker mind does this, he/she will be able to bring to reel life the real life happenings and environment. And there are film makers who bring these real life environment without any pre written script, capturing the real life happenings as it is. These novels attempts by the film makers comes loaded with fetes and critics, giving different perspectives. And this paper will look at the real life captured visual film, Baraka captured or picturized by Ron Fricke, by analyzing in what ways does this film support its meaning of blessing, and how the the title is actually realistic and not ironic. Baraka, directed and ‘canned’ by Ron Fricke is a purely cinematic visual film shot in high definition wide screen format. Being a visual film, it has no verbal sounds with only music for accompaniment. Shot in 24 countries, it contains footage of people from different countries, in places, where there is mass conglomeration. That is, the visuals are mainly composed of people en masse doing some kind of activity in different locations of the world. The different locations include various landscapes, urban places, places of religious importance, in total mostly natural locations. The camera was used like a person’s eye, capturing every movement of humanity as they are indulging in their day to day activities like a father riding his son in a bicycle in India to a Indonesian women working in a cigarette factory . The film apart from showcasing the beautiful side of the natural and artificial elements featured in it, also focuses on the locations with darker side like Auschwitz in Poland. The naturalness and authenticity of the film is further optimized by the addition of natural sounds like the onsite recordings of The Monks Of The Dip Tse Chok Ling Monastery, which flows along with the background score. So, Baraka is a film, which presents visually stunning and thought provoking images of natural elements, conveying to us how we are ‘blessed’ to have these natural settings, and thereby supporting the title. The title, Baraka in Arabic means “spiritual wisdom or blessing transmitted from God”. That is, the word in short means “blessing”, which one can get from the natural settings and elements that are captured on the film. That is, the word, blessing is part of many culture and each of them gives different perspectives and meanings. For example, when viewed from the perspective of religious groups or persons, the word will denote the blessings one will get from the superior beings in the places of religious importance. As this film showcase this aspect clearly, one can say that it supports the title. That is, by showcasing different places of religious importance and the mass of people entering it and worshiping in it, the film brings into the focus, how humans are praying in the hope of getting blessings from their believable Gods and Goddesses. Apart from this perspective, the presenting of these stunning images, shows that these natural elements like the Mt. Everest, Bali’s scenic settings, Uluru Rocks in Australia etc, etc will provide us with peace, surprise, feeling of deja vu, entertainment etc, etc, the feelings only a blessed man can get. So, even if a mentally as well as physically hurt human sees these images, he/she will have a nice and comfortable feeling, so they can be called blessed souls. So, one can say that the visuals supports the title because the film’s natural settings have been giving immense benefits to all the people of the world, in different forms, thereby blessing all of us. The other perspective of the film, which shows we are blessed is the feeling that arises due to the importance that is given to every moment that takes in this world, and our part in it. That is, the film by showing how precious the each moment is, and how we are granted our place in the midst of these moments, denotes that we are indeed blessed. Also by showcasing the humans in the ‘best lights’ like being in a joyful mood (Dancers in Bali), relaxed mood (Tibetan Monks), working mood (Workers in South East Asian countries), the film indicates, that we are recipients of valuable blessings On the question, whether the title is ironic rather than realistic, it differs according to individual’s perspectives of life. But, mostly the title of Baraka meaning Blessing is realistic not ironic, when the images of the film are seen in the human context. That is, since the film is a realistic portrayal of humans in different situations and locations, the title also reflects that realism. Importantly as discussed above, the blessing component is clearly seen in major part of the film whether in religious places or in relaxed moods, so the title is used for the realistic depiction of it (blessing). That is, with images of people being blessed in many religious places, Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, Israel, Kailashnath Temple in India, Grand Mosque in Mecca and Hokke-Ji Temple in Japan, the title appears realistic. Also, the relaxing mood of different people shown in certain images of the film, shows how blessed humans are, thereby confirming the realistic nature of the title. For example, the relaxed feeling the Buddhist monks get while going through their spiritual journey is portrayed in the film effectively. Even with the film exhibiting hyper realistic nature, the makers of the film have shown the images of being blessed in a realistic fashion in many sequences, proving that title is realistic and not ironic. So, the film Baraka is a collage of images from around the world exhibiting the physical and mental pictures of different people from many countries, cultures, background etc. One of the main themes or thing that flows throughout the film is the component of blessing, which is visible in many scenes. So, with the content and the main component of the film exhibiting realism, the title also mirrors that aspects. Read More