Question of the Day

In honor of the Edies: What is your favorite documentary film?

I am a huge nerd for documentaries, and will watch a documentary film on just about any subject imaginable, though people-centered docs are generally my favorites.

My all-time favorite is probably the 1992 Ron Fricke (with Mark Magidson) film Baraka, which I believe is even better than his possibly more well-known Koyaanisqatsi. Fricke invented a camera specifically to make the film, which was shot across 24 countries in 14 months and was one of the last films shot in the TODD-AO 70mm format.

Baraka, which takes its name from an ancient Sufi word translated as "a blessing, or as the breath, or essence, of life from which the evolutionary process unfolds" (and is also the root of our president's first name), is the story of our planet, and its breathtaking beauty, and its amazing people, and the things we have created, and the destruction we have wrought. It has no dialogue; its soundtrack is music and song and natural sounds, and it is as close a thing to hymns as music gets for someone like me—the hum of the world and the people in it.

I first saw in the theater almost fifteen years ago now; I walked in not knowing what to expect of a film which was described by friends who recommended it as stunning, poetic, life-changing. It was all of those things.

If you've never seen it, do.

(The CD soundtrack is also awesome.)

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