Koyaanisqatsi Film Analysis

515 Words2 Pages

Koyaanisqatsi

Mankind’s progress is largely the result of the ability to obtain and use what planet Earth has to offer. The food we eat, the timber we cut and the water we draw are all part of the global ecosystem. Human beings live in the realm of nature and are interacting with nature; they have been actively and obsessively chasing materialistic goods in abundance. However, these ecosystems are fragile and the exploitation by man is being shown today. Humans are messing with nature, thus there is a current imbalance between humans and the wider world.
The movie, Koyaanisqatsi is a quintessential environmental movie and it has contrasted the glory of nature with the mess made by man.

Koyaanisqatsi is a 1982 piece of remarkable cinematography, this film has no …show more content…

The movie has an engaging background music. Slowly, the presence of mankind drips into the film and we can see mines and atomic explosions. This film demands utmost concentration and utter capitulation– further into the movie the pace and visual intensity picks up. Some footage of dilapidated housing estates being demolished feeds into urban scenes of traffic which is either shown in slow motion or rapid timelapse. The film then climaxes perfectly with archived footage of a Nasa test rocket exploding during takeoff in 1962, the camera tracks the final flaming piece of debris as it falls back to earth. The movie shows how humans invaded nature and have exploited the natural resources. The contrasting imagery in the film shows how humans are affecting the ecosystem. Koyaanisqatsi actually means “life out of balance” and its literal meaning is “chaotic life”. The movie is all image and music; there is no overt message except the obvious one. The film travels from natural habitats to nature ‘contaminated’ by man to his own hampered environment, devoid of nature and in chaos and

More about Koyaanisqatsi Film Analysis

Open Document