Each beautifully composed shot prods us to contemplate the diverse modern world we live in, whether it’s a close up of a painted Ethiopian face, sands sweeping a desert dune or the unintentional dance of factory workers reporting for work in China. The environment, religion, global industry, modernity vs tradition, family – all the big themes are in there somewhere but intentionally kept oblique. The filmmakers spent five years trekking to 25 countries and have not even bothered to put up subtitles of the locations.
By dismissing the details, Samsara displays extraordinary scenes rarely seen on the big screen without political commentary. The rhythm of worshippers at Mecca is mesmerising and yet the systematic process of a Chinese chicken slaughterhouse is oddly equally fascinating. Shots of Tibetan monks tapping coloured dust onto a sand painting have Hitchcockian suspense. A gloriously expansive, moving and transcendent cinema experience.
