Ripping at their flesh, nibbling at their eyeballs, infecting their ears and contaminating their tongues; humanity’s self-destructive nature has gotten the better of them. The capitalistically orientated society, hungry for power and what may seem like ‘betterment’ in the short term has dug its own grave with its inclination to avoid what lies in the future. Humanity has only been aware of the immediate, the here and now. Due to humanity’s nonchalance, the world is on a steep road downhill, the next generations seem doomed.
Baraka is a creative yet logical piece of symbolism portraying the development of different aspects of the world; the two main aspects being nature, humanity and therefore the positives and negatives of their interconnection.
Reflective Recount of Baraka:
Baraka begins with an introduction to nature, its peace and serenity; a thoughtful, balanced and conscientious atmosphere. Time is being experienced at a rate so slow nature could be deemed as timeless. Nature is at its strongest, feeding humanity, while humanity tends to nature; a mutual relationship between two interdependent entities, fueling the other to ensure its own existence. During this period in time mankind understood the importance of nature, how dependant mankind was on nature and reaped the fruits nature bore. Furthermore, during this period men understood the interconnection between all of humanity. As Baraka leaps from Australia to Brazil to Africa, we witness the extended web of human connectivity. Such as the act of prayer, practiced in different ways but shared as an act by all, beads here unite a diversity of cultures. The men and women of Africa, dancing in a leaping configuration seem to drift off into their own private nirvana while the African song bleeds into a Brazilian one. Baraka then returns to Australia, where another group of natives are performing their own tribal dances. As this connection proceeds, the intensity of the drumming in the background is directly proportional thus implying a sense of urgency with regards to the change that is soon to occur. A period in which one’s flesh is equal to the Earth is about to end; a time in which one’s flesh and the Earth are mere extensions of one another, all part of the same black canvas uniting all inhabitants of the world, making them one.
The world’s atmosphere suddenly changes. Blackness engulfs the screen; the change is symbolized through a crash of thunder. Thunder represents the destructive forces man has imposed upon the universe. This is the climax of development and Baraka, humans begin to decimate and exploit nature instead of living as one with it in harmony as before. The times are changing; the more freedom humanity is given the more we exploit our freedom. We do not realize that with freedom comes responsibility. The consequences will eventually come crashing down upon us; a reality check is inevitable as our exploitation of the entity that once provided us with everything continues. The perplexed face of a child, used to personify innocence and future, becomes the canvas for the projective registration of destruction. The world we deem as ‘modern’ then appears, overcrowded city dwellings to the box slums of Rio. The music in the background becomes structured and studio-produced thus symbolizing a sudden lack of freedom and the introduction of restriction. Shots are depicted of people behind windows with bars; the bars a clear representation of being trapped, living in a cage. The Kowloon Wall in Hong Kong, a filthy wall of box like apartments fades into view, along with a slower funeral piece of music and a visual of the White City Cemetery of Ecuador, an above ground burial site of boxlike coffins. This scene symbolizes the fact that cities are often home to the living dead, and that people living in the third world squalor are treated no better than the dead – they are better off dead. Paradoxically a shiny white airplane flies over the Kowloon Wall symbolizing the distinct differentiation between the privileged and the poor. This clear distinction indicates exactly who is benefitting from the abuse of nature and the abuse of the underprivileged.
Baraka is a highly anti-capitalistic film that stresses on its judgment of Capitalism as a system that aims to exploit the majority for the betterment of the minority. After the paradigm shift causing change of dynamics on Earth has been established, the change of dynamics that encouraged parasitic unsustainable development, signs representing the clash between tradition and so-called ‘development’ – a major issue in today’s world – is depicted. The sound of bells return in their most audible incarnation yet as people move in their mechanical lives. A Japanese monk with webbed feet walks down the street is seen ringing the bell in traditional dress. This scene in addition to the monk’s traditional thus unique disposition in an environment consisting of a busy city atmosphere is a blatant portrayal of the clash between the old and the new while indicating how the old once laid the foundation for the new, and although unseen and understated the old still holds the foundation for all progress. This clash addresses the conflict of a slow paced life vs. a fast paced life in addition to addition to directional vs. non-directional existence. The focus on the monk and his bell in the midst of a completely different environment intends to signify a warning; a warning that confirms the mechanical nature of society, its excessive structure and monotone. Society’s mechanical nature is illustrated in the next scene; cars driving, Muslims praying mechanically with haste, time flying by as people engulf themselves in their own little worlds.
The mechanical nature of society has been established. Baraka now goes on to describe the machines that have produced this mechanical society. Chicken eggs are entered into a system of machines; the chicks are born, inspected, tossed into a container and treated like inanimate objects. This is the first example of the invasion of the machines. Secondly long narrow roads buzz as people enter their cubicles at work while the clanging sound of heavy machinery harkens in the background. It is then humanity has pulled the last straw. Its immoral, selfish, greedy, unsustainable behavior has become a hazard to all. The close up of the face of a Japanese geisha unleashes a silent scream indicating catastrophe. Something in the world has gone terribly wrong. We are not running the machines, the machines are running us.
