I had been curious about this film for some time, so I finally checked it out expecting to be bored by it but kept an open mind.Overall I like this movie. But, I think that Godfrey Reggio failed to create a balanced artistic statement. He says the movie is not an indictment of technology and I can see that he attempted an earnest effort to make a balanced statement.
This is a solid, very well made artistic film about modern life being out of balance. It is similar to Baraka... yet it somehow has a clearer impact. Noticeable are the VERY impressive transitions from each shot to the next. Very well thought out and brilliant editing of the various shots.
It is so refreshing to watch a real movie after years of Hollywood tripe and drivel. This is that rare thing to find - a real movie, with really brilliant editing, a clear message and awesome execution. You will not find silly, pointless plots here or immature sitcom pratfalls. This movie tells the story through the use of powerful visual images set to stimulating yet minimalist music. This is not simply eye candy - there is a deep, well thought out theme going on throughout.
It is pretty clear after watching this that humans, though they have advanced... have also created a strange nightmare land that enslaves every person caught up in it. The wonder and awe of technology is there... and yet it becomes clear that, in many ways, it has gone much too far. Overpopulated, caged, frantic, nightmarish, absurd. There seems to be a kind of "middle path" possible where technology and the planet can be in balance... things are currently "out of balance." I won't spoil it for you... however the final transition where the stock market floor turns into the NASA rocket is epic.
One of the best films I've ever seen, on par with RAN or original Solaris.
If we sent this film to another solar system, and an intelligent species found it and watched (and heard) it, that civilization would have a very clear concept of what our planet and what modern human beings are all about without any exchange of spoken or written language. That is how simply and profoundly this film communicates its portrait of our world. I first saw it as a rental in the 80s; my Dad somehow thought it was a science fiction film. But as we watched it, we were absolutely mystified and awed. Yes, its message is obvious, but seeing this film one is confronted with the beauty of our world and the horrific excess of human civilization in a unique way. The Philip Glass score is wonderful and highly appropriate (I enjoyed his music in this setting far more than I ever did on its own), and the time-lapse sequences, particularly toward the end, are dizzying and bewildering. While one is struck by how dated many of the images of American society are - looking back on the early eighties - and one is aware that many environmental abuses have since been tamed somewhat, one also realizes that little has changed fundamentally in the past two decades, and that many things the film depicts merely hint at developments which are now seemingly insurmountable problems. A monumental film, and I look foward to the third part of the trilogy, "Naqoyqatsi," coming to theaters in October 2002.