ThisNext

Explore

Watch People Shop

Giveaway Calendar

Search

Koyaanisqatsi - Life Out of Balance

Related categories:

Take a closer look

Options for this item

Shop for it at Amazon.com and 1 other store.

A recommendation by JustAnotherBrick

JustAnotherBrick's recommendation

First to recommend

This art movie describes modern life as Koyaanisqatsi, a Hopi term meaning "out of balance".

The movie, made in the 80s, is part of the Qatsi trilogy, and uses such techniques as slow-motion, time-lapse video and stock footage of events like the liftoff of Apollo 13 to bring out the changes Man has wrought on the face of the planet and raises important questions on the sustainability of such a lifestyle. All this is set to brilliant music, sometimes frenetic, sometimes the haunting chorus of the word "Koyaaniqatsi".

All this seems particularly relevant in these days of environmental hyper-awareness, but even without its message, the movie is an experience to savour. The movie does not seek to condemn so much as it tries to provoke. The slow-mo shots of steam rising from rows of cooling towers, the perfect symmetry of massed Soviet tanks, these are images whose beauty rivals other shots of the Grand canyon and the clouds flowing over mountains. All of this presents us with the scale of changes we as humans have brought about. We are allowed to make our own conclusions from this.