Baraka probably gets most of its press nowadays because of the release of Samsara, a follow-up to and an expansion upon the themes of the first film released in 1992. While it doesn’t immediately appeal to everyone considering its a non-narrative documentary, it’s definitely something to see if you get the chance.
The two films explore absolutely beautiful locations and do their best to explore complex themes to the fullest potential they can with no use of language. The second one explores ideas of the Buddhist world of death and rebirth known as Samsara. The word Baraka translates to “A blessing” in Swahili. Let’s take a look at some of the most visually stunning moments in the film.
The Ryoan Temple
The Ryoan Temple, otherwise known as Ryoan-Ji, is a Zen Buddhist temple located in Kyoto, Japan, belonging to the Myoshin-Ki school of the Rinzai sect of Zen. It’s considered one of the finest still-extant examples of Kare-Sansui, which is a Japanese word that translates to “dry landscape” and is what one usually thinks of when they hear the phrase Zen Garden.
It’s usually typified by a large field of small rocks that have been polished by a river, which surrounds bigger installations of large boulders. Although the garden itself doesn’t mean anything, scientific inquiry claims that there’s a symmetry to the garden and it was most likely made to stimulate the unconscious, which is basically what the Zen folks had been claiming it does for a while.
Dip Tse Chok Ling Monastery
Dip Tse Chok Ling Monastery is a building built for housing Tibetan Buddhist monks in Dharamsala, India, after the Chinese government exiled most of the practicing Tibetans from their homes and monasteries in Tibet.
The original location was near Lhasa in Tibet, but due to the tension that’s befallen the Tibetans since the Chinese government decided that Tibet was part of China and not an independent country, they had to move. The original monastery was built by Yongzin Yeshe, who was one of the tutors to the 8th Dalai Lama.
Lake Natron
Lake Natron is an absolutely breathtaking lake on the eastern side of Africa. It’s a soda lake, which is what gives it the beautiful, otherworldly color that it has. The lake is fed by a nearby river and although it’s generally too hot for animals to find pleasurable at 140 degrees Fahrenheit, there are still campgrounds around the lake that enjoy frequent visitors due to the fact that mountain climbing is a popular attraction around the area.
Currently facing the lake are issues of logging in the area, ideas to start construction on a soda plant to come in and extract the minerals in the water, and increased siltation. Hopefully, the beautiful view of the lake is enough to stop people from coming in and destroying it, but we’ll see.
The Church Of The Holy Sepulcher
The church of the holy sepulcher (located in Jerusalem) is incredibly important to those who practice the Christian faith. It’s said to contain the holy sites where Jesus Christ of Nazareth was both buried and crucified. While it was officially founded as an important site in the 300s, it still remains a popular place for visits from Christian pilgrims and is protected by the Status Quo which means that no one can harm it despite relations between factions of Abrahamic religions, mostly being that way because there’s no claim to the site in Islam.
While the building might not be as evidentially full of natural beauty, it’s still a pretty indescribably beautiful place to behold and the film Baraka really does a great job at showing that.
The Edge Of A Volcano
Volcanos are formed when lighter tectonic plates are subducted underneath them. Since one of these plates has shifted under the other into the molten hot mantle of the earth, an amount of magma begins to build up over time. After it’s been long enough and the magma has collected, it’s part of the natural cycle of a volcano that if the plates shift apart, the volcano will spew magma from the chamber it was being held in before.
One of the interesting things about volcanos that doesn’t come to mind immediately when witnessing the primordial scene is that 80% of the earth’s surface is volcanic in origin. Aside from that, the atmosphere of our planet is made up of volcanic emissions built up over time.
Tuol Sleng
Tuol Sleng is a foul testament to the depths of human depravity, which is explored in the documentary. It was previously a secondary school that was operated by the Khmer Rouge regime that operated from 1975 to 1979 and committed mass genocide of Cambodian citizens.
Most likely, 20,000 people were held at Tuol Sleng, which translates to “Hill Of The Poisonous Trees” or “Strychnine Hill.” Pol Pot and the rest of the Khmer Rouge regime killed an estimated 1.5 to 2 million people, mostly ethnic minorities in Cambodia and Buddhist monks who were considered a threat to his vision.
Auschwitz
Yet another memorial to the absolute evil that mankind is capable of is Auschwitz, which now serves as a holocaust museum. It’s also not just one place, but an entire complex of buildings in occupied Poland, some of them being miles apart from each other.
These centers were used to implement what the Third Reich referred to as “The Final Solution,” which was the slaughter of Jews, other ethnic minorities, homosexuals, and pretty much anyone else that the Reich didn’t see as members of their perfect society. Of the 1.3 million people who were sent to Auschwitz, 1.1 million died.
The Yakuza
The film shows us the tattoos of a man who belongs to The Yakuza, a crime organization in Japan somewhat akin to the mafia. It’s been a tradition in the Yakuza since the 1700s to get tattoos since the police regularly used them to mark people as criminals. From there, they’d modify what they had already gotten while in prison.
After a while, it became custom to seek them out since the painful hand-poking style that’s used meant dedication to the gang, in addition to the content of the tattoo representing things the Yakuza member wants to show the world about themselves. However, Yakuza tattoos are usually given in such a way that they aren’t noticeable while the person is clothed.
Luxor Temple
The Luxor Temple was built in 1400 BCE and was a bit odd as far as ancient Egyptian tombs go. While most of the temples in Egypt are built for the worship of their gods or their deified pharaohs, Luxor seems to have been built for the concept of kingship itself and might have been the site of coronation for many of the most important pharaohs in ancient Egyptian society.
In fact, while not an Egyptian, Alexander The Great admired Egyptian society and fancied himself to be part of that world in at least some small way, claiming that he received his coronation there. It’s an absolute marvel to behold.
Uluwatu Temple
Uluwatu temple is a temple of the Balinese Hindu faith, which mostly thrives in Indonesia, and is therefore built to a very specific architectural standard. At certain times of year, a ritual dance based on text from an important Hindu story called the Ramayana is performed there.
It’s a sea temple situated on a cliff, and the founder of the priesthood that worships Shiva in Indonesia is said to have achieved Moksha (which is something like the probably more familiar Buddhist enlightenment) there.
