Garrett Dalton-Baraka

The film Baraka was an extremely interesting and provocative attempt to show the relationship between cultures around the world and nature. Having read more about the film, I discovered the time and effort that was put into making such a creative piece of cinematography. Baraka was filmed using Todd-A0 70mm film, which is one of the most expensive types of film that is used in the industry. Though it is rarely used today, such films as the Sound of Music and Patton were filmed using Todd-A0 70mm format. This format allowed for stunning visual effects that really added to the feel of the movie.
After seeing the movie I came to appreciate the similarities that can be found between cultures and nature that seem vastly different on the surface. There are several scenes in which different rituals are performed in such countries as Taiwan and Australia. The purpose of these rituals may be different, but they are all used to cement cultural ties through the use of ritual. Perhaps the most memorable sequence in the film shows the process by which chickens are sorted within factories and then shipped to farms and consumers. The process shows chicks being sorted and categorized for shipment to other farms. This scene is done in conjunction with another scene showing human beings being sorted and funneled through lines in the subway. By seeing the two scenes together, I realized how trivial daily life can be. Human beings may believe themselves to be far superior to animals, but if anything this scene shows this not to be true. There are some scenes that show the brutality of humanity such as the burning oil fields of Iraq during the Gulf War and the skeletons of the murdered peoples of Cambodia during the rule of Pol Pot. We as humans are not as perfect as we may think when compared to nature.