Koyaanisqatsi Reduced (On Cessation of Unsustainable Life)

http://www.koyaanisqatsi.org/

http://www.spiritofbaraka.com/koyaanis.aspx

Godrey Reggio directed, cinematographer and editor was Ron Fricke, Philip Glass did the soundtrack and that's King Missile at the end of this fallaciously claiming eponominity as same. This is the last third of one of three (1:3) film studies of human experience that are worth watching in entirety. Text at close explains the title of this 1982 masterpiece.

Koyaanisqatsi
ko-yan-nis-qatsi (from the Hopi language) n. 1. crazy life. 2. life in turmoil. 3. life out of balance. 4. life disintegrating. 5. in a state of life that calls for another way of living.

Translation of the Hopi Prophecies Sung in the film
"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."

Category:

Music

Tags:

• world
• music
• ambient
• glass
• einstein
• challenger
• citiscape
• film
• sustainable
• deathculture
• hopi

[pradtheprophet]

this movie is so powerful because it leaves everything to the interpretation of the viewer......

[BobForehead]

@pradtheprophet well, most things. maybe. Dunno, it's pretty much an indictment.

[ANeonTiger]

@pradtheprophet I disagree. There are many things in here that influence interpretation, music for example.

[BobForehead]

@ANeonTiger Yeah, the soundtrack does seem as if it's intended to lead the viewer in a particular interpretive direction. Sure did for me; although it would be interesting to pick R's brain and have him say "No dude, you fully failed to get my drift there. It's an homage to the pure beauty of disposable culture" or such.

[skidrum11]

I dont know what it is with these films. Theyre unsettling and beautiful at the same time.

[BobForehead]

@soylentgreenb would love to see your source on the relative per-capita violence by century, smallpox has a long life ahead of it in the bunkers of New Jersey, and what's not to hate about 9 billion fat humans?

[gimme2utah1]

...WARNING...

At No point in this movie do people talk....

They just stare at you with creepy hairdo's.

[soylentgreenb]

@SajukkTheEternal There have always been people always think everything is going to hell. Causes for optimism tend to anger these people, which is bizzare.

E.g. the fact that the 20th century was the least violent century on historical record on a per capita basis. That we wiped out small pox(300-500 million in the 20th century). That the world average calorie intake is 22% higher today than in 1960. That world population is heading for an early peak of ~9 billion. Just to mention a few.

[partisan72]

Koyaanisqatsi...My cult...One and only.

[SajukkTheEternal]

This part of the movie is called "Prophecies". It's my favorite part, and the one that contains most of the movie's messages.

The scenes of extreme poverty and everyday people are highly critical of modern societies. The ending with the rocket exploding speaks the final message of the movie:

"Don't think you are immortal, because you aren't. You are human. Change your way of life before it is too late".

[sneakL]

@loydster4

That was four years after this film was released. 1986.