Blaine IV: This review was written by my dad, Blaine Harrington III Professional Travel Photographer.
Blaine III: My son, Blaine IV (known as Blaino), is a fan of great cinematography (I am too!). He follows a cinematography page and found an interesting feature length documentary called "Samsara." He found that we could stream it on Amazon Prime.
The movie is part eye candy of some of the most interesting spots on the planet, but also, part way through, goes into a reportage of what we are doing to the planet. It has time lapse scenes of people working in factories in Japan and China (production lines). This includes products but also food. Pigs being slaughtered, etc. It also shows massive trash dumps in the Philippines and also has overhead shots of prisoners in the Philippines exercising (kind of aerobics, all choreographed). It shows cars being produced, then also shows them being smashed to bits in compacters.
It is, apparently, kind of a warning of what our consumer society worldwide is causing.
The film was released in 2011. There is no narrative, only a soundtrack and sometimes live sound. It took five years to complete in 25 countries. It was shot in 70mm and included a time-lapse camera. It was filmed on negative and then turned into digital.
The creators consider the whole thing a kind of meditation.
They had incredible access. They filmed the Hajj in Mecca and I was curious how they had gotten permission (you can't enter the Ka'bah as an "infidel" (non-Muslim). I found out after that someone had built a huge building on the perimeter of the complex, so the crew was able to shoot almost straight down from there. They had incredible time-lapse scenes of the crowds (all in white) cycling the Ka'bah.
For me it was kind of looking back at my whole life. I had been to and shot at all of the featured locations except those in Angola, Ghana, Mali, the Philippines and Saudi Arabia. I doubt I know more than a few other people who have been to all of these locations around the world. I don't think I have seen any other film, besides perhaps "The Fall" that has featured so many places I've been in one film.
I have been kind of down in dumps with the final realization that travel photography is really COMPLETELY dead. There seems little reason for me to put the kind of effort that I do into my travels if the photo agencies who dominate the market continue to sell my (and everyone else's) work for so little that I am actually selling at a loss.
But this film really showed me, again, how special my life has been and how fortunate I have been to do what I have done. No one ever handed me anything. Everything that I've accomplished, and everywhere I've been, came with much effort and perseverance.
So, if you get the opportunity please try to see "Samsara". Roger Ebert gave it four stars.
This fits in with my overall theme that I've been running on Facebook called "Places I've Been that are featured in Movies I've Seen", so this is today's entry.
Thanks, Blaino, for discovering this film and sharing the experiences with me!
