I randomly saw a preview for this somewhere on the Interwebs and I was entranced. Whatever the hell this was supposed to be about, it looked gorgeous. The cinematography was amazing and the images- all of them real and from Planet Earth, were breathtaking. I had no idea what the movie was supposed to be about it, but I immediately put it on my own, personal, 'must watch' list.
And then I found it on Netflix (as you tend to do with these things) and watched it and discovered that there was a catch I hadn't considered. Samsara is a documentary, of sorts- but it's a non-narrative one. So in other words, it's about an hour and half of beautiful music and images in which nobody says a single word. (Other than to sing, I guess.) All of which raises a somewhat interesting challenge: how do you review a documentary/movie that contains no speaking whatsoever?
Well, for starters, I think you try and figure out what the filmmakers were getting at to begin with. Wikipedia reveals this:
The official website describes the film, "Expanding on the themes they developed in Baraka (1992) and Chronos (1985), Samsara explores the wonders of our world from the mundane to the miraculous, looking into the unfathomable reaches of man’s spirituality and the human experience. Neither a traditional documentary nor a travelogue, Samsara takes the form of a nonverbal, guided meditation."
While the description on Netflix reads like this:
This contemplative documentary reveals the ties between the dueling rhythms of nature and humanity as found in diverse locations across the globe.
These descriptions, while eloquent and certainly descriptive don't really give the would be viewer much of a cluse as to what they're getting into. I'll be honest: I watched this in two parts because the first night I started watching it, it turned out to be so soothing and so relaxing that it put me right to sleep. And it almost did the very next night when I went to finish it as well. But to me, it's like Mother Cigar's Requiem For A Dream surprise but in reverse. (The TL;DR Version: basically, Mother Cigar purchased Requiem For A Dream thinking it was just a concert by the Kronos Quartest. Oops.)
Samsara is a pleasant surprise You really don't have a clue what you're getting into but it's amazing to watch when you do- the movie takes you all over the world, from Southeast Asia and the Angkor Wat (at least I think it was the Angkor Wat) to Tibet, Africa, even the deserts of Utah and the urban dreamscapes of Los Angeles and Hong Kong. You see volcanos erupt, babies born, old people fading away, children playing, Buddhist sand paintings created and then destroyed.
The two descriptions more or less fit the movie perfectly-- and really and truly, you could argue that this takes the form of a nonverbal, guided meditation- I only wish I could have seen this on a bigger screen. The images are so clear and crisp that I think only on a bigger screen could you get the sense of the grand and wonderous scale that Samsara is trying to reach. Yet even on my tiny, tiny screen, this was still a wonderful, beautiful movie to watch.
Music wise, the duduk got a major workout and it's always good to hear the hauntingly beautiful voice of Lisa Gerrard in anything- but it was the length more than anything else that got me in the end. This was like an hour and half of beauty, I'll grant you but it gets kind of arduous towards the end. I think it would have packed more of a punch if it had been a touch shorter.
Overall: If you're looking for thought-provoking, contemplative journeys into spirituality and exploring the wonderous miracles of our world, then Samsara is the perfect movie for you. If you think movies get bogged down by all that pesky speaking and talking and stuff, then you'll be happy with the lack of talking as well. It's different and worth a watch: *** out of ****
No comments:
Post a Comment