The VOICE of Prophecy! Final Fulfilment Edition, 20/21
26 May 2021
“WHAT IS SAMSARA?”
(My sincere apologies to all those visually impaired)
SAMSARA IS A VERITABLE FEAST FOR THE EYES!
I first encountered this global safari of seeing on the eve of the UK second LOCKDOWN, as it aired on PBS, 5 January 2021. Since that day (night really), it has been my intention to write a review to promote the circulation and appreciation for this epic film.
But for an evocative stream of often esoteric sounds that periodically morph into rhythmic beats, actual audio or silence; SAMSARA might be considered a SILENT MOVIE.
THERE IS NO NARATOR. Not a word is addressed to the viewer. The pictures, sometimes moving sometimes static, tell their own story; with the occasional subhead to convey where, in the 25 countries in which the 70mm film was shot, the camera is located.
And yet, WITHOUT A WORD, the epic festival of light and colours SPEAK! Softly, imperceptibly, surely and definitely – and still AMBIGUOUSLY!
SAMSARA IS A CONCEPT MOVIE – A STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS that does its best to girdle the globe; presenting to us a dizzying breadth of imagery, from the most exceptional and remote to the ordinary and mundane; in most instances shown from both unique and unusual angles. THE SPECTATOR is introduced to sights rarely if ever seen, barely conceivable; and other scenes one might have preferred not to have witnessed.
AN ALBUM OF STILL AND MOVING IMAGES of many kinds of men, women and children; their relationships, surroundings, creativity, productive activities, appetites and wastes; SAMSARA IS A WINDOW on the human condition and mans questionable relationship with “Mother Earth!”
IT IS A FILM I WISH THAT I HAD MADE; if only to have travelled so far and wide, and observed so much and so deeply; for inevitably, what the movie makers saw is far more than can be presented in 105 minutes of film.
BECAUSE its language is VISUAL, it transcends the varied CULTURES it studiously endeavours to represent, open-mindedly, with unfiltered lenses. And yet, it must be the case that THE VIEWER; wherever on earth he or she is from, going to, or now residing; WILL TAKE FOR HIMSELF (or herself) WHAT SAMSARA IS SAYING OR MIGHT MEAN.
To me SAMSARA is confirmation of the SPECTACULAR BEAUTY OF BOTH MAN AND NATURE; and our capacity to both create from and destroy that beauty for selfish, short-term pleasure or gain.
SAMSARA SHOWS A WORLD apparently separated from the creator of “heaven and earth;” and under the sway of elemental forces that have built A WORLD OF GOOD AND EVIL.
Phil Gray, The VOICE of Prophecy!
FOR ONCE, I would like to leave the comments section “active,” to allow visitors to give their reactions and views to Samara the movie; BUT I WON’T, to protect your data (as far as I can on this site). HOWEVER, should you feel compelled to share your opinions, and have access to Facebook (whose prying T&Cs you have presumably accepted, along with me), then I have set up a companion page there, on which you can leave respectful comments in the usual way. pg
The VOICE of Prophecy! Final Fulfilment Edition, 20/21
26 May 2021