Movie Review: Samsara

 
Recently my girlfriend & I watched a movie that I had been wanting to see for awhile. I have eclectic taste in movies & this one caught me eye.

Samsara is a visual journey, with no dialog or narration.  There is a wealth of spectacular imagery of people & places around the world.


It is really a meditative work of visual art that features other examples of human spirit & creativity, such as the activity of making a Tibetan Sand Mandala. This is an expression of impermanence that is destroyed after many hours of meticulously forming grains of sand into a complex composition.

 

The word "Samsara" means the endless cycle of birth, death, & rebirth- along with the karma (or consequences) that come from our thoughts & actions.

Samsara is also used to describe the transient qualities ever-changing world around us, with all its imagery, sounds, and experiences. In this context, it usually refers to the tendency of the world & it's myriad qualities to trap us in the karmic cycle of life & death.

There are interesting thematic threads woven throughout the footage of the movie. One striking part of the film that I didn't expect was the juxtaposition of factory workers & industrialized farming. There are many more interconnections between the many sights & visual elements presented in the movie.

It's something that needs to been seen, & not described. I'd definitely recommend Samsara to anyone who would appreciate watching a rich tapestry of visual imagery, in a thought-provoking look at humanity and the world around us.