Samsara: movie review
Director Ron Fricke's movies aren't much more than travelogues, but the range of locations is impressive.
'Samsara' explores locations from Yosemite to Versailles.
Courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories
Ron Fricke, who brought us “Baraka,” is back with another one of his globe-hopping, big-screen, oh-wow documentaries. “Samsara” is even more vertiginous and abstract and New Agey than “Baraka,” with rapid-fire views of, oh, let’s see: Yosemite, the Himalayas, Mecca with its thousands of pilgrims during hajj, 1,000 Hand Goddess dancers from China, Gothic cathedrals, Versailles, Jersualem’s Wailing Wall, Angola’s Epupa Falls – and this is only a small sampling.
What does it all mean? I’m not convinced that Fricke’s movies are much more than exalted travelogues, but you certainly feel as if you’ve been somewhere after you’ve seen one of them. Grade: B (Rated PG-13 for some disturbing and sexual images.)