I really didn’t know what to expect when I queued Francis Ford Coppola’s Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance last Sunday evening. About ten minutes in I thought, “guess we’re in for a 2001: A Space Odyssey type of intro”, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. Thirty minutes later and the held, visual shots that coincided with the music kept going. At that point, I assumed this was it in terms of its narrative. I was right. Whilst at first I was a bit annoyed, wanting to watch a film with more let alone any dialogue, seemed like a small ask. Especially when I was trying to eat my Sunday Lunch leftovers (the roast potatoes were great thanks for asking). At around the thirty-five-minute mark I was left at a crossroads. Do I turn this off and opt for something less involved? I only spent a pound on the two DVD collection from the charity shop so all-in-all it wasn’t too much of a loss. However, Francis Ford Coppola was a household name and any future conversation involving him could have been jeopardised by the fact that I gave up on one of his films less than halfway through. Weighing my options, I decided to persist. In hindsight I made the right decision. Whilst the film can come across as pretentious, this will only occur if you do not surrender yourself to it. I went in extremely blind having briefly read the blurb on the back of the case when I first purchased it but had since forgotten the premise. I truly did not know what to expect. The first of the collection was called “Life Out of Balance”. A fitting title.

I recently finished Yvonne Chouinard’s Let My People Go Surfing which I quite enjoyed in a shockingly, interesting way. I feel like the film could go hand-in-hand with this book. I can imagine the author and owner of Patagonia reading excerpts of his book along to this film and it would work marvellously. I feel like the film began to influence me once I decided to surrender myself to it as a work of art, which this film is undoubtably so. To call this anything other than art would not do it justice.

Once the human built and City scape elements of the film came in, that is when I started to become transfixed with what I was watching. The city shots reminded me of the ones used in the original Bladerunner (1969). Thanks to Corridor Digital’s great behind the scenes look into the film making process, I was aware that those shots were achieved using miniatures and model-sized lights blinking away. This made me think of the way cities are designed and inspired more so by circuitry rather than nature. You could easily have mistaken several held shots of a city for a motherboard. One moment I loved was of a glass windowed building from ground level that reflected the blue sky above. At first I thought, “what a great image”. Yet it was only seconds later that I realised that it is not the building that is beautiful, but the sky itself. Buildings will never achieve the ability to mesmerise like nature does, the best it can do is mimic the natural beauty surrounding it.

The last few months I also have understood how much processed foods we as people consume. After recently having the chance to experience being close to nature, eating organic food and soaking in the power of the sun, I appreciate this film’s message a lot more. The numerous shots of factory-made goods were just another reminder of how detached we are from the food chain process. This film came out in the 80s which was a decade that saw leaps and bounds in the consumption of electronic items. It was also the decade in which we started to become aware of the effect humans were having on the planet. The News was covered with the idea of having a hole in the Ozone Layer, caused greatly by chemicals used in beauty products at the time.

My favourite shot in the entire film was right of the end. I had spent the last 20 minutes being almost hypnotised by the sped-up shots and score. I was yanked out of this trance when I thought I was watching Interstellar, an absolute favourite of mine. I have no doubt that Nolan has watched this and taken huge inspiration from this portion. In fact, Koyaanisqatsi itself deals with a deteriorating world that is implied if we do not change our course. The last minute or so, we see the remains of an exploded Space Rocket spin violently back to Earth. In this instance it is slowed down so we can see it spinning, flames lashing out of it. Similar to the floating plastic bag scene from American Beauty, it was arresting. I watched the flames roar and then tame themselves, switching between the two every few seconds. “Was this a looped shot” I began to wonder, almost forgetting that this object was hurtling towards earth. I was so entrapped. This last image was one that really summed up the films message. Whilst alluring, this fiery mess was racing towards its destruction.

I look forward to seeing the second film, Powaqqatsi: Life in Transformation. If there is anything that could convince me that we are living in a simulation it is this, so let’s hope the next one has a slightly more positive outlook!