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Ahmed Zangana
Jennifer Williams
English 101
13 Oct. 2014
Baraka Essay

The movie Baraka had a very interesting plot and point of view. The movie took
us all around the world in many different countries and showing how those people lived
their lives. This is a movie with no dialogue so the perception is completely up to the
viewer. In the entire movie I have noticed a few things that really stuck out to me out of
everything else. The movie presented a huge impact on religious aspects, life in foreign
countries, and how fast the world around us is moving.
While watching this movie, I noticed quite a few interesting details. The scenery
of the film was changing constantly, both scenarios and locations. It began in one
country and ended in another country, which really made the viewer wonder why it
included all of these transitions. A few of the Countries or places that I noticed were,
China, India, Saudi Arabia, America, Jerusalem and many other locations that I could
not decipher. The main aspect of these foreign countries was to show us how everyone
around the world is living. The Earth is huge, but most of us dont take the time out of
our days to look at it as a whole and rather just see whats in front of us. Some of the
Countries seemed poorer than others, and some seemed way better off then the
previous. For example, there was a village where they were gathering food and an
extremely malnourished cow was walking around, as opposed to another country where

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they had machines that would just chop off a chickens head. In my opinion, this is
important to see, especially for people who dont live in these poor or under-developed
countries. Its important to know what we have in this world, and how good we are living.
Its important to see the struggle in our society today, that doesnt get broadcasted on
the news.
The religious aspects of the movie intertwined with the various different
countries. In many shots, youll see people native to a country, practicing their own
religious beliefs. There were Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, and others
that I could not understand. The relation was, they were all so inclined into their belief
systems. They didnt see the unfortunate things that occurred around them, instead,
they just saw their devotion to their religious deity. That is very insightful, because its
just astounding how people can move on with their day no matter how terrible it might
seem and still look forward to what tomorrow brings. These people did not live in the
present; they lived in both the past and the future. The past to guide them, and the
future to achieve the goals they are setting out for. It disgusts me that in the society we
live in nobody focuses on these types of things anymore. Everyone is stuck inside their
social media and their electronics and they just fail to see the beautiful world that we live
in, its absolutely tragic.
The final point I wanted to touch on involving the movie, Baraka, was the world.
In a less broad statement, its how fast our world is moving these days. We dont realize
how fast our lives are just blowing by us until we stop and look at the whole picture.
Time is a virtue, and its best not to waste it on things are not worth the trouble. I have
seen this happen many times, and it is a very disappointing thing. Back to one of my

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previous statements; we as a community living in the United States do not see how
much time we are wasting doing remedial things. We text, and we tweet, and we post
our latest status update to our feed where none of our friends will give a care in the
world to it, just because we want likes. Its more like we want to be liked, because
everyone is so insecure about themselves that they use technology to a point where
they feel like theyre a model thanks to their Instagrams. People in other countries do
not have the resources that we have, nor do they have the money that our country
possesses. A village in the movie were all bathing in the same body of water, that they
might not even know what it contains. The way the movie was set up was that it started
very early in the morning when the sun is its highest, and ended with the sun setting
and night coming upon the world. This is to show the viewer how one whole day on
Earth plays out in many different places. It demonstrates how we spend our days and
how others spend their days completely different, yet were all still human. It shows, that
no matter a persons birthplace or religious views, not one person should be set aside
from another in a manner where they are treated differently. We are all the same and if
the world descends from that view and idea, then we will end up failing as a society.
Although some of us do not let religion guide us in our paths, and others use it as their
main paths.
In the end, Baraka was an astounding film with no dialogue. This movie really
made the viewer think, and try to piece together the images they were seeing. From
India to Egypt to China to America, this movie clearly depicts all these many cultural
places, and due to lack of a language, it can be viewed by any of these many places
shown in the film itself. The greatest thing about a film like this is that it is truly universal

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and timeless. It is never apparent what year or even century it is since it never depicted
any new technology or new ways of life at all. It could very well be paving a new
direction for movies all over the world, where we wont need translations or subtitles to
enjoy something. All in all, this was a very educational film and should be viewed by
many generations to come.