I'd say this is probably the best of the Qatsi trilogy thematically. Koyaanisqatsi is the best with flowing, beautiful imagery, but this one has a much more gripping and interesting experience.
One of the things that Reggio is amazing at is capturing faces. This movie has the best faces of the Qatsi trilogy, something that makes it personal and maybe a bit more damning. That little child with the horses is probably one of the most haunting images in the entire trilogy.
Also, this one uses montage editing techniques to a much greater degree of meaning. Koyaanisqatsi had some fairly amazing graphic matches connecting city maps with computer chips, but this one really causes the imagery to react with each other to provide the feeling of people getting run down and advertising trying to wash away the flames of destruction caused in developing countries. There's just so much more symbolic meaning, I think, in this one.
And of course it's head and shoulders above Naqoyqatsi. Both of them are.
--PolarisDiB
One of the things that Reggio is amazing at is capturing faces. This movie has the best faces of the Qatsi trilogy, something that makes it personal and maybe a bit more damning. That little child with the horses is probably one of the most haunting images in the entire trilogy.
Also, this one uses montage editing techniques to a much greater degree of meaning. Koyaanisqatsi had some fairly amazing graphic matches connecting city maps with computer chips, but this one really causes the imagery to react with each other to provide the feeling of people getting run down and advertising trying to wash away the flames of destruction caused in developing countries. There's just so much more symbolic meaning, I think, in this one.
And of course it's head and shoulders above Naqoyqatsi. Both of them are.
--PolarisDiB