An ambitious documentary that clocks in at over 3 hours and tries to unpack what it means to be human, where the species is at, and where it may go. It does this through interviews with various people from all over the world answering various questions in countless different languages, interspersed with visually beautiful but sometimes random images of landscapes and the people inhabiting them, usually people farming or otherwise working outdoors.
Some stories are more engaging than others, but most do serve a purpose, and some are quite emotional. It's the footage in between that feels a bit more confusing. It often doesn't link very well to what's being talked about, and while the visuals are beautiful, they end up not contributing a great deal, thematically. It's no Koyaanisqatsi, that's for sure, as in that documentary, sure, the images could be sometimes vague, but the amazing editing and score gave them purpose and meaning.
So I could still recommend this, maybe cautiously. Hearing interesting and emotional stories interspersed with beautiful visuals of endless landscapes and people framed like ants within them doesn't make for a fully cohesive 3 hours, though, and of course there's no concrete answers on what it means to be human, if anyone was even expecting that (the question of the meaning of life might be discussed, but it isn't solved, nor could it be).
It's a moderate success that's sometimes very emotional and has its fair share of amazing visuals, but feeling a bit formless and a tad repetitive, it ends up being less than the sum of its parts. Still... at least many of those parts are great.
Some stories are more engaging than others, but most do serve a purpose, and some are quite emotional. It's the footage in between that feels a bit more confusing. It often doesn't link very well to what's being talked about, and while the visuals are beautiful, they end up not contributing a great deal, thematically. It's no Koyaanisqatsi, that's for sure, as in that documentary, sure, the images could be sometimes vague, but the amazing editing and score gave them purpose and meaning.
So I could still recommend this, maybe cautiously. Hearing interesting and emotional stories interspersed with beautiful visuals of endless landscapes and people framed like ants within them doesn't make for a fully cohesive 3 hours, though, and of course there's no concrete answers on what it means to be human, if anyone was even expecting that (the question of the meaning of life might be discussed, but it isn't solved, nor could it be).
It's a moderate success that's sometimes very emotional and has its fair share of amazing visuals, but feeling a bit formless and a tad repetitive, it ends up being less than the sum of its parts. Still... at least many of those parts are great.