Samsara - Ron Fricke (2011)

This world... If it's not a joke, then it's certainly a very cleverly staged spectacle (although such a statement is risky: in the absence of others, how could we objectively evaluate the only one available?)

Ron Fricke's Samsara (translated as the constant cycle of life) has been classified as a documentary film. I don't want to comment on the decision with which I cannot agree, the production belonging in my opinion either to art film or to the "auteur" one; but it is for my own good to affirm with all the aplomb that no matter how you categorize it, it will always remain a powerful demonstration of cinematic force.

I say it doesn't have a strictly documentary character, because it should be evident to anyone that the methods used in the tournament of images, their quality, the cuts, and the framing of the shots, are not random as they might seem at a frivolous first observation, but carefully correlated according to a premeditated script. That a metaphorical aesthetic effect is pursued and that reality is reformulated according to a well-thought-out scheme.

Director Ron Fricke, assisted by Mark Magidson (concept script), was on his second attempt of this kind in Samsara (after Baraka -1992), and they sweated hard to offer plot stability, their efforts being easily noticeable and quantifiable, but also highly effective. Samsara means in Sanskrit a continuous flow... a kind of Panta Rei... signifying the cycle of birth-life-death-rebirth; the eternal wheel of life.

From all times, Samsara is the second production recorded entirely on 70mm film, "the only format capable of ensuring image quality that encompasses the entire range of colors," and was named by its creator "a guide to meditation." Someone in the critique says it's about an invitation to trance, and someone else that we are dealing with a testimony. One that, like an incident imagined by Ray Bradbury (Star Trek- ep. The Star), tells about us over time, when we will no longer be. To explain to other civilizations the beauty and miracle of this world, but also the causes that made it perish.

For the viewer, Samsara is an impressive nonverbal journey that covers 25 countries and spans 5 continents in some of the wonders of the planet... In a sinuous blend, of traditions, customs, fragments of everyday life... individuals of all races and nations, and all kinds of concerns... the feature-length film talks only about planet Earth and about the achievements of mankind, alternately suggesting dramatic oscillations between critical and laudatory.

Five years were needed to obtain the material, and the care for the technical aspects of the shootings reminds me of Griffith, whose editing seems to have been done under the direct guidance of Sergei Eisenstein. Composer Michael Stearns watched the film eight times before sitting down to write, and certain connecting passages were improvised directly in the sound post-processing phase. The filmmakers achieved incredible negotiations to obtain permission to film in Mecca; however, even so, the right to record images in North Korea, requested on several occasions, was and remained refused.

In the visually stunning film, audiences are taken on a journey spanning 25 countries, from bustling cities to remote rural communities, all while being invited to notice the striking similarities that exist between seemingly disparate entities. From factory workers to captive animals, devout worshippers to imprisoned criminals, graceful dancers to undulating waves, each scene is choreographed with a mesmerizing harmony that conveys deeper themes linking them all. Through these powerful visuals, the film explores the impact of global economic systems on the workforce, the state of the environment, and the complex interplay between industry and nature. A true masterpiece of modern cinema, this film offers a unique and thought-provoking perspective on our interconnected world.

This world... Spectacle or joke?