In the fall of 1993 I had just turned eleven and saw something I would not appreciate until over 15 years later. I saw a lot of movies when I was growing up, but one in particular stands out. In November Mother dragged Dad and I to see Baraka in theaters. I hated it. For an eleven year old I found no redeeming value in the movie, there were no words, it had strange music and peculiar visuals.
Dad and I bugged Mom for months, even years, following that movie. It was the movie that we compared all movies to after the fact but I just did not understand it. Even now when I told Dad about the movie he groaned and asked if I knew what I was doing, after all these years that wound never healed.
The powers of technology have allowed Baraka to return to my life, this time in the form of a beautiful transition to Blu-ray. When visual aficionados list must-have movies on Blu-ray this one is high on their list and on the weekend I realized why.
What I could not understand 15 years ago I appreciated now. I understood what the movie was saying and even after all of this time the message could still be interpreted.
I can’t say exactly what did it for me in this movie but I felt an emotional connection to several scenes and thought the images were very powerful. Every shot felt like a beautiful photograph and I would be lucky enough to witness just one of those moments for myself.
I’m glad to have given this movie another chance even if it was the punch line to so many jokes all those years ago.
