Let's look at the blockbuster first - Baraka, Chinese translation of "Xian Di Xuan Huang", directed by Ron Fricke, produced in 1992, the film is 96 minutes long. Note that it is by no means a Hollywood-style soap entertainment blockbuster, but an art blockbuster that confronts human existence. There is no commentary, no dialogue in the whole film, and even the title (Sri Lankan) we cannot give an exact literal translation; some are changing light and shadow, frozen images, and flowing melody. (Director Ron Fricke worked as a photographer in the famous Qatsi trilogy by documentary master Godfrey Geggio, whose title was also taken from a minority dialect, and also took the pure video route). However, what we have gained is far more than those chattering and specific films, so heavy that any words and comments seem so insignificant.
The film begins with a scene of a dusty temple. The sky was dark, there were many figures, the stone carvings (like lions) at the door were standing quietly, and the camera moved extremely slowly. This opening is very revealing. Why choose a religious site, why not choose a postcard-style monastery with good light and shadow? Why choose almost static people and things? Why not choose a normal or even quick shot?
Since The Origin of Species was published in 1859, people have finally found a "scientific" basis to refute theism, and they have justly believed in atheism. When Nietzsche went mad and died in 1900 because "God is dead", the citizens of civilized society were already believers in commodity fetishism. Poor philosophers don't know that even the least transformative millennium "celestial kingdom" has hurriedly joined a movement called modernization.
Modern production methods have greatly enriched the material life and material desires of the people in it, and the four technological revolutions have refreshed the life of modern society one after another. Since the defeat of Spain in 1894, the international status of the United States of America, along with its economic power, has risen steadily. After 1991, it deservedly took the top spot. After Marx's economic determinism has been proved countless times, the California dream has also illuminated every modern person in every country. At the end of the twentieth century, North Korea, the most conservative socialist country, also began to shake the drum of the market economy.
Marx's theory of alienation has been forgotten in the minds of public opinion. After two world wars, several economic and social crises, and countless unnatural deaths, the Three Musketeers of Liberty, Democracy and Justice are still recorded in the charters of various governments and published in headlines in major newspapers. Just as a freedom in "King Arthur" caused a crowd to cheer, all people have become forgetful and idiots in modern society.
In contrast to the impatience and hypocrisy of modern society, Baraka shows us the serenity of religion and the piety of believers; in contrast to the emptiness and boredom of modern people, Baraka shows us the fullness of religion and the satisfaction of believers. Jumping out of the Three Realms, not in the Five Elements. Perhaps only religious believers and primitive tribes can overcome or avoid the ills of modernization.
The blind walking monk on the streets of Japan holds a bowl in one hand and a cane in the other to explore the way, chanting scriptures, and taking every step; very different time. When the Maori people in Australia sang hand in hand, the crowds of the Tokyo subway were surging and irrelevant; when the monkeys soaked in the snow-capped hot springs squinted their eyes while listening to the sounds of nature, hundreds of millions of urbanites tossed and turned on their beds.
The eyes are the windows of the soul. Baraka showed us many eyes - African natives, Japanese high school girls, Chinese armed police, Indian elderly, South American poor, etc., as well as those fixed eyes - the people's heroes on the monument, the Sphinx , Terracotta Warriors, afterimages of Mogao Grottoes, photos of concentration camps. One of the scenes of a Noh actor who opened his mouth and couldn't make a sound was the most shocking. The actor was blind in both eyes.
Forgetting makes people nostalgic for those who exist in the world, and sinking makes people feel at ease with being damaged and alienated. The fragrance of poppies is refreshing, but it is not only human beings who are poisoned.
Baraka shows us free nature and humanized nature. We saw waterfalls rushing down, lava flowing slowly, sea tides surging, and mountains and rivers full of vitality. We've also seen polluted rivers, overdeveloped basins, maliciously lit oil wells, and mountains of garbage, not to mention cemetery-like high-rises and ugly buildings that are thousands of years old.
There is great beauty in heaven and earth, but the sage regards the people and all things as dogs.
The operation of modern society and its principles constitute a paradox in themselves. Is there much difference between the people coming and going and the chickens and electronic components on the production line? The construction of rules, laws, and institutions is ultimately a cocoon. A person's happiness is the pain of a group of people; a government's democracy is a country's autocracy; a scientific decision is an unprecedented disaster. Just as all men are created equal, humanism is the noblest and the most base, the most formal and the most casual, the purest and the most filthy great banner. The rise and fall of anthropology in the 20th century, the disintegration of philosophy and the increasingly narrow living space seem to indicate a hopeless future for human society.
The director turned the camera to religion again, this time with a more delicate perspective. Is religion really the first and final destination of man? Only careful observation and experience can answer this question. We saw the magnificent mosques, the pouty ass of countless Muslims in front of the icons, the skinny old men with their hair draped and reading the scriptures, the pilgrims with their five bodies on the ground, and the Ganges River with multiple uses—praying, brushing teeth , drinking, bathing, and even water burial.
The director may also miss many scenes, such as jihad, mass self-immolation, terrorist activities. Bush started the war as a devout Christian, and his sermons in Beijing even moved many Chinese people. Go to Wenshu Monastery on weekends, make a great chainsaw inside, and burn incense outside to make a wish.
"Religion is the spiritual opium of the people" is a truth. Religion is too easy to be organized and instrumentalized. Who would dare to say that religion did not participate in the modernization process of the twentieth century? Because of the name of the father, this "father's name" can be varied.
At the end of the film, the gaze returns to nature, the space remains unchanged and the time reciprocates. The mountains, rivers and trees under Baiyun Canggou seem to have a Zen meaning of "seeing the clouds and clouds in the sky", but it lacks the classical tranquil atmosphere and spiritual characteristics.
In 1927, Heidegger published his "Being and Time", arguing that the existence of human beings has been in a state of oblivion for two thousand years, and he was determined to clear this state and make it clear. Forty years later, Heidegger in his later years no longer devoted himself to being and unconcealing, realizing that the uncovering of existence is the covering of existence, and the speech of the Tao is the silence of the Tao, because existence is nothingness.
From prehistoric to classical, from tradition to modernity, everything is coming to an end. The post-learning tide that emerged in the second half of the twentieth century smashed all the principles and truths into pieces. People are homeless from the very beginning, and any bereavement, confusion, and longing to return home are doomed to wander without roots. As the twentieth century drew to a close, cynicism gained theoretical support, and gaming life had an official status.
At the same time, the material life of human beings has also reached unprecedented splendor and luxury. Leaders walk in the grand festival procession wearing naked fashion clothes. The crowd is amazed, silent, imitating or cursing. Postmodern plays the role of that The character of the child who tells the truth. But he is even worse, because this bad boy has nothing to do after nihilizing everything, leaving only a piece of chicken feathers.
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