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From: keller@uicsl.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.movies
Subject: Koyaanisqatsi - (nf)
Message-ID: <7600049@uicsl.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 28-Apr-84 09:44:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: uicsl.7600049
Posted: Sat Apr 28 09:44:00 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 30-Apr-84 00:48:28 EDT
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Nf-ID: #N:uicsl:7600049:000:1809
Nf-From: uicsl!keller    Apr 28 14:44:00 1984

#N:uicsl:7600049:000:1809
uicsl!keller    Apr 28 14:44:00 1984

I didn't know what to expect and was a little surprised that (ko-ya-ni-scatsi)
wasn't your normal movie.

The movie is a well edited collection of scenes from both the natural
beauty of our world and our modern technological society with a
complimentary sound track by Philip Glass. I think most people
into computers would like it because of the incredible patterns in nearly
every frame. The movie begins with what seems to be a long series of back
country views. You watch sand dunes, flowing rivers, and vast expanses of
water with their gentle shapes and inherent tranquillity. The movie soon
switches to big cities where you watch as millions of people move in
individually random but collectively ordered ways among the huge angular
reflecting skyscrapers and busy roads. The pace in this part is almost
blindingly fast with time lapse photography accelerating every motion and
a frantic sound track. It would drive you out of the theater if your attention
wasn't riveted on the patterns that the time lapse photograph lets you follow.
It's a rush of people, machines, and lights.

This movie wants you to view the contrast between the majesty of nature and
the manic pace of society as "life out of balance" but I see it as an illusion
caused by comparing things that work on completely different time scales.
One of the comparisons made is between a photomicrograph of an IC and a city.
Are we regimenting our lives? Pushing ourselves into a framework that better
fits machines? These are the questions I would ask and I'd bet that the
creators of this movie wanted me to ask. Still, without thinking too deeply
about the meaning of our lives you can get a thrill from this movie just
by observing the complex and recurring patterns mankind creates. Honeybees
never had so eloquent a dance.

-Shaun