Powaqqatsi (Widescreen)

The filmmakers also have decided to focus solely on the grim side of culture, and there are so few smiling faces here that it makes you wonder if two-thirds of the people in the world live each day with grim, depressed looks on their faces. By using slow motion so much, they tend to pull the dynamic side of life completely out of the picture, and it grows old very quickly. Where are the playing children? And as another reviewer said, they left out the abominable side of the third world, such as beatings and executions, and they've also left out the graft and corruption that make it difficult for anyone to help people in these countries.

I felt all along that I was being manipulated, forced to watch images of their choice so that my worldview would become what they desired my worldview to be. As a film, this is much better watched in segments, music piece by music piece, perhaps, as it does grow old after half an hour or so. All in all, this is a beautiful effort, but beauty, of course, does not make for substance and depth (or even cohesion), which are elements that this film is lacking.

The principle that the filmmakers were seeking to illustrate was that while colonization comes in diverse forms, it is always destructive in the end -- even if the means are through economic domination rather than brute occupation. So-called "civilized" societies prey upon the Third World for their own gain, thereby ravaging the spirit of its people, depleting the natural resources of its nations, and tainting the uniqueness of its cultures.

The film reveals scenes that the U.S. media often fail to show -- the backbreaking labor and environmental destruction inflicted as offerings to the Almighty God of Profit. Worship at the altar of financial markets generates our wealth (the trilogy's first film, Koyaanisqatsi, covers technology- and consumer-based culture), yet as we acquire greater strength and contentment, our business practices shorten the life span and deteriorate the quality of life in weaker countries. The extraction and importation of their very vitality seems to be the fundamental wellspring for our Gross Domestic Product, essentially amounting to a lopsided transaction akin to parasitism.

For contrast, the music for the soundtrack incorporates energetic elements of this highly valued commodity from faraway lands: pounding rhythms, intricate phrases, meditative passages, foreign melodies, exotic harmonies, and even a dynamic children's chorus. This soundscape was intended to provide a sense of the heart and soul of the camera's subjects, i.e., the people in the images.

I highly recommend Powaqqatsi, especially since after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, it presents renewed significance and compelling insight. After all, what do Americans perceive about other cultures and the ways we affect them? For example, would not a survey of natural-born U.S. citizens indicate that only a small percentage of us know more than three common first names from the Arabic world? And how many of us are familiar with the opinions that other nations' citizens hold about our activities in their countries? For that matter, are we fully informed about the actions abroad by our government and our companies? Although a single film can't completely fill in all the gaps in our awareness, Powaqqatsi does help bring to our attention that such voids exist.

As long as a lack of understanding and concern typifies the pursuit of "capitalism" and "freedom" by the world's greatest democracies, we should anticipate that this attitude will continue to cause suffering. Powaqqatsi is a call for compassion, the true front in civilization's ongoing "war on terror," otherwise known as the fight for humanity's survival.