8 films in the Man and Society category that are worth seeing
8 selected full-length non-narrative films dealing with the issues of man, society and climate change.
The Human
Yann Arthus-Bertrandspent three years trying to answer the questions what makes us human? The ability to love, fear, laugh, curiosity about the world?
The documentary tells the stories of people from over 60 continents, different cultures, nationalities, genders and professions, recording emotional and personal topics such as war, future, love, happiness, poverty.
The document is available in several series on YouTube:
Baraka
The word „baraka” means „breath” in the Sufi language. Film directed byRon Frickeis a kind of journey from birth to death, through the corners of our planet, starting with amazing landscapes, volcanoes of unity between humanity and fauna and flora.
The author also touches on the negative impact of humanity on our planet. The film is devoid of dialogue in favor of a wonderful soundtrack.
As an interesting fact, it is worth noting that the film comes from 1992 and remainsshot in 70mm Todd-AO format. It is also the first film ever to be restored and upscaled8K resolution.
Samsara
AgainRon Fricke, this time the film Samsara from 2011, about a journey through 25 countries. The word „Sansara” in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism meansconstant wandering, or the cycle of reincarnation.
Samsara is an American non-narrative documentary from 2011, p
Like Baraka, the film has great shots, a lack of narrative, and an amazing soundtrack.
Koyaanisqatsi
According to Forbes magazine, the film is „one of the most visually powerful climate change documentaries.”
It does not have a classic plot or dialogues. It consists of stop-motion or slow/accelerated images of nature and cities from various US states.
The harmony and beauty of nature are juxtaposed with images of civilization, which is expressed in the ambiguous koyaanisqatsi – the only word spoken in the film. In addition to the epilogue, which, together with the first act of the film, is a symbol of nature’s victory over man (the explosion of the Atlas Centaur space rocket), one of the most suggestive sequences is a series of shots showing the physical liquidation of the Pruitt-Igoe estate and other powerful objects with which – according to the message – man disturbed the balance of nature.
Koyaanisqatsi means in the Hopi Indian language: 1. crazy life, 2. life without balance, 3. life in turmoil, 4. striving for disaster, 5. a state in which you should consider changing your lifestyle. The phrase Life Out of Balance is used as the English subtitle of the film.
POWAQQATSI
The production Powaqqatsi is the second film in the Qatsi trilogy and, like Koyaanisqatsi presented above, it is a non-narrative film. Directed by Godfrey, Reggio is a sequel to the aforementioned Koyaanisqatsi.
It was divided into two parts, the first one, untouched by Western civilization, presenting cultures engaged in farming and gathering.
The second part confronts the apparent idyll with the urban bustle and capitalist society, marked by high consumption, pollution and information noise.
In the Hopi language, the film’s title means a creature that is forced to absorb the life forces of others in order to move on.
The Salt of the Earth (Le sel de la terre)
Sebastiao Salgado, a Brazilian photographer who for 40 years traveled around the world and documented humanity in times of dramatic changes, i.e. wars, emigration and famine.
He became famous for his series of photographs devoted to the human condition, in which he looked into the heart of humanity’s darkness. In his new photographic project, dedicated to the beauty of the Earth, for the first time he moved away from social photography to document areas untouched by Western civilization, where fauna and flora continue to develop without any obstacles and where you can see landscapes as if taken from the Book of Genesis.
Lessons of Darkness
A film directed by Werner Herzog depicting the devastated oil fields after the Persian Gulf War.
The documentary presents catastrophic images interwoven with classical and theater music.
Anthropocene: the age of man
The film, like the ones presented above, is a non-narrative meditation showing how human existence has influenced the changes of our planet. As the authors write, „At the intersection of art and science, ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch bears experiential and non-educational witness to a critical moment in geological history—providing a provocative and unforgettable experience of the reach and impact of our species.”