Baraka

Technically, a wow. ‘Koyaanisqatsi’ cinematographer Ron Fricke offers more wordless eco-spectacle. With startling depth and luminosity, a tumble of images whirls the viewer on a world tour: ancient temples and ethnic rites, unfolding landscapes and teeming cities. Japanese snow monkeys; Angkor Wat; Grand Central Station; Auschwitz; a chicken processing plant; Mecca; the changing skies over Utah: Fricke has been there. That’s the problem. Any one sequence might work powerfully in its own right, but string them together with a musical overlay and the banality of the connections becomes apparent.