Baraka on Blue Ray

I recently upgraded my amp and media player (got a PS3). With the conclusion of the format was, I finally caved in and got a Bluray player. The film that I've been longing for is now available in Hong Kong on Bluray and looks fantastic. The picture and sound are absolutely amazing! They also produced a new documentary that covers the production of the film and another on the restoration process. The film was scanned at 8K resolution (and down-sampled to HD) and looks stunning. Many of the technical effects (changes in focus, etc.) and subtle details (background faces, etc.) are now clearly discernible. The music and sound design are also recorded in DTS-HD and serve to reinforce the imagry. This film is really what media is about (facilitating introspection, examining the "bigger picture" of life).

I have personally purchased and given away nearly a hundred copies of this film (for a while, I would buy copies that I came across that were at a low-price, knowing that I would give it away later). In my teaching career since my days at USC, I've also made many a student watch this film and reflect on it. In the first few years, students were also required to write an essay. I also make it a habit to watch the film all the way through a couple times a year. I've got the book by Mark Magidson as well as his concert film with Dead Can Dance (who also wrote a few of the songs on Baraka). There are shots from Baraka in the second Matrix film (when Neo is talking to the Architect).

How fanatical am I? When I visited Santa Fe for a conference, I tried to look up Ron Fricke who directed the film. I found out that he moved to Berkeley and met the people that now live in the house that he lived in while in Santa Fe. My friend Peter Russell (http://www.peterrussell.com) was also an advisor to the film. There is a whole site around the fans of Baraka (http://www.spiritofbaraka.com/) and who are also looking forward to his new film, Samsara (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsara_(2007_film)).

I plan to watch / hear / experience this film more over the next few weeks. For those of you that haven't seen it, be sure to pick it up on Bluray!