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Koyaanisqatsi contains no dialogue, no narration. It is simply a marriage of beautiful
cinematography and musical composition.
Because of this, I believe, the viewer has an unusual opportunity to
create an experience of unconscious connection to the people and our world
through the mind and heart. It can create a direct experience of beauty and
emotion.
The title comes from the hope language, translated as "crazy life,
life in turmoil, life out of balance, life disintegrating, a state of life that
calls for another way of living".Slow motion and time-lapse images of
cities and natural landscapes help us shift to a new perspective, but lets us
contemplate the question of balance for ourselves.
The source of images ranges from the bleak splendor of the American
southwest, the natural drama and color of the sky, to the frenetic activity of
our cities, and the power of launching space vehicles and atomic bomb
detonations.
This film sits on my short list, perhaps at the top, of my favorite
works of art.
The title comes from the
hopi language, translated as "crazy
life, life in turmoil, life out of balance, life disintegrating, a state of
life that calls for another way of living".
It has been described by
reviewers as a “Symphony of Images”, “visual concert of images“ “music for the
eyes”
Created between 1975 and
1982, it is a collaboration between Director Godfrey Reggio, music composer Philip Glass and cinematographer Ron Fricke. Three years were spent shooting the
film. Glass and Reggio spent an additional three years in a state of
collaboration, with Glass composing score to fit the film and Reggio re-cutting
the footage to fit the score.
Reggio was born 1940 and the Christian Brothers Catholic pontifical order, at age 14. He
spent 14 years of his adolescence and early adulthood in fasting, silence, and
prayer.
He also directed two
subsequent films in a Trilogy: Powaqqatsi (1988)
and Naqoyqatsi (2002), and a short film of
similar style, “Anima Mundi”.
Phillip Glass has received
several Academy Award Nominations for film scores ( Notes on a Scandal, Kundun, The
Hours) and received a Golden Globe for The Truman Show. There were other awards and nominations for The Illusionist, Koyaanisqatsi, The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from
the Life of Robert S. McNamara.
He has collaborated with
other artists ranging from Twyla Tharp to Allen Ginsberg, Woody Allen to David
Bowie, Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Yo-Yo Ma.
He is described as one of the most influential 20th
century composers and has about 140 recordings in his discography.
Incidentally, Glass and his ensemble went on tour, playing music
live to accompany the film. You will
notice that much of the action in the movie is very precisely synchronize to
the music. It was amazing to see the
performance because, the film broke a couple times, and despite the
interruptions, the ensemble was able to keep the time and resume perfect
synchronization when the film resumed!
Ron Fricke,
went on to direct Baraka, a pure cinema
movie which is often compared to Koyaanisqatsi.
Director Reggio described
the film is “a.,, vision of the collision of two different worlds -- urban life
and technology, versus the environment. [It] attempts to reveal the beauty of
the beast!“
But, he continues,
“KOYAANISQATSI is not so much about something, nor does it have a specific
meaning or value…. while I might have this or that intention in creating this
film, I realize fully that any meaning or value KOYAANISQATSI might have comes
exclusively from the beholder.
“The film's role is to
provoke, to raise questions that only the audience can answer. This is the
highest value of any work of art, not predetermined meaning, but meaning
gleaned from the experience of the encounter. The encounter is my
interest, not the meaning.
If meaning is the point, then propaganda and advertising is the
form. So in the sense of art, the meaning of KOYAANISQATSI is whatever you wish
to make of it. This is its power.
You will notice that most of
the film consists of slow motion and time-lapse photography of cities and many
natural landscapes across the United States.
I think this makes it easy to see familiar things in a new way.
Images include:
Canyonlands National Park, Utah.
manufacturing and other jobs
Embarcadero Freeway in San
Francisco (later demolished due to damage from the 1989 earthquake),
New
York's Grand Central Terminal
clips from various
television shows and television advertisements.
Microchips
people from all walks of
modern life, from beggars to debutantes.
Three Hopi prophecies are
sung by a choral ensemble during the latter part of the "Prophecies"
movement are translated just prior to the end credits:
"If we dig precious
things from the land, we will invite disaster."
"Near the day of
Purification, there will be cobwebs spun back and forth in the sky."
"A container of ashes
might one day be thrown from the sky, which could burn the land and boil the
oceans."
Reviewer: In my own personal view, the flaw here resides in viewing the
film as a tirade and a call to action. I find Koyaanisqatsi very clearly to be
not a cry for reform, but a demand for awareness and meditation. There is an
inevitability in the actions of human beings and their disregard for the care
of their surroundings, and the wonderful thing about this film is that it
forces you to experience the consequences and at least take notice of what each
of us is contributing. It does not let you get away with indifference and
nonchalance.