Samsara

PG-13

Released Aug 24, 2012

1 hr. 42 min.

Documentary

Music

List

76%

79 Reviews

Tomatometer

87%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Filmmaker Ron Fricke creates a global travelogue with pictures and music, exploring the Himalayas, the American Southwest, European cathedrals, and other beautiful sites.

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Critics Consensus

It's a tad heavy-handed in its message, but Samsara's overwhelmingly beautiful visuals more than compensate for any narrative flaws.

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Sachin E

Great visuals, but the film is a mess. There is no structure at all, just random visuals. This is literally National Geographic gone bonkers.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

10/29/23

Full Review

Matthew B

Samsara took four years to make, and was filmed across five continents. Characteristically the title is taken from a Buddhist word used to describe the continuous flow of birth, life and death. The term signifies the impermanence of our material life compared to the benefits of a spiritual everlasting existence. It fits into Fricke's vision that favours the ethereal over the material. Structurally the film follows the same pattern as Baraka, but with an added emphasis on the contrast between the slow and meditative worlds found in other cultures, and the fast-moving materialistic values of capitalism with its emphasis on consumerism and automation over slow reflection and compassionate humanity. Fricke claims not to be stating a message, but his philosophy is clear from the way that he lays out his movies. I will say more on this later. Fricke shows us images of nature and an older world together. This is the world of religious ecstasy and art, and the structures that Fricke chooses are brilliantly colourful and aesthetically pleasing. Children and monks work painstakingly on creating an artistic work from coloured grains of sand that they sweep away. The camera dwells on paintings in cathedrals, on chandeliers, and on stained glass windows. By contrast the western world is a place where traffic crowds the streets, even at night. People live in skyscrapers. Even while exercising they play on phones and tablets, unable to take time to relax and contemplate. The artwork seen here is different. It is the inmates of a prison performing a dance, or the carefully choreographed military marches that indicate our celebration of belligerence. In one of the more remarkable scenes, a man is dressed as a business executive. He begins to cover his face in green lotion and powder, forming hideous shapes. He seems like the embodiment of the tortured soul of the company man. We visit the sweatshops, the employees dressed in the same high-visibility yellow or pink uniforms, as they crowd into busy rooms. Their work is repetitive and homogenised, divorced from any feeling. Hens are gathered and trapped by a machine with blade-like propellers. Cattle rotate on a large circular milking machine that looks like a device from a James Bond movie. Piglets suckle from a large sow that hardly has room to stand up in her tiny prison. The bodies of gutted animals hang from a conveyor belt. Sex too is reduced to a commodity, as the lines of headless sex dolls and a gathering of pole dancing sex workers indicate. The process of preparing and eating meals in fast food joints is shown. After the images of animal cruelty required to get the items on our plate, perhaps some viewers may not feel as hungry as they did. Meanwhile the poor are exploited or neglected. Men transport rocks from a toxic mining area, their shoulders covered in weals from the heavy weights they lift. The poor pick from rubbish tips while the rich are buried in coffins shaped like fish or aeroplanes. Shanty towns contrast with the layered high rise luxury apartments, many of them containing a swimming pool. Fricke shows us a society that is obsessed with guns. One man is buried in a coffin shaped like a gun. Ammunition is mass-produced. This is contrasted with a disfigured veteran standing in a military graveyard where the headstones can be seen stretching out behind him. Fricke returns to showing a better life outside our culture. The film ends with same images with which it began, albeit moving to another stage of development. The circular pattern of life, birth and death (Samsara) continues. The film creates a sense of awe for our planet, and our achievements as a race, even while identifying human failings. I wrote a longer appreciation of Ron Fricke's movies on my blog page if you would like to read more: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress.com/2021/08/29/three-films-by-ron-fricke-chronos-baraka-and-samsara/

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

09/18/23

Full Review

dave s

Samsara alternates equally between inspirational, jaw-dropping images and shots that are almost certain to induce tears of despair. Ron Fricke's film is nothing more than a series of images, some done in time lapse, some is slow motion, and many simply stationary. The movie seems to be an indictment of mankind's impact on the natural world, but it's almost certain that viewers will draw their own conclusions based on their own experiences. While most of the images captured transition nicely and logically into the next shot, there are times when the connection between the images is a little more tenuous, which tends to confuse the message. Regardless, Samsara is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful films ever made and should be seen for that reason alone.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

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andy h

One of the most visually engrossing, endearing, aware pictures I've seen in a long time, it proves that lots of pictures can have millions of words.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

when I saw this movie, it was absolutely Astonishing! Its purpose is to introduce you to different varieties of cultures and traditions. You Absolutely must see this movie, and you won't regret it!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/25/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Not just a movie, but an experience! Beautiful and thought provoking. I hope for more from Ron Fricke in yhe future!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/05/23

Full Review

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Ron Fricke

Director

Balinese Tari Legong Dancers

Actor

Hiroshi Ishiguro

Actor

Ron Fricke

Writer

Mark Magidson

Writer

Mark Magidson

Producer

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Austin Chronicle

Rated: 2/5

Jan 22, 2013

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AV Club

Rated: B

Jan 22, 2013

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Adam Nayman

Globe and Mail

One doesn't have to be a Buddhist to perceive themes of circularity and renewal in Samsara, but it takes that level of patience to suffer its frequent low points with silence and good humour.

Rated: 1.5/4

Oct 5, 2012

Full Review

Tom Meek

Cambridge Day

It's riveting in composition and soundtrack. Turn it on and you won't be able to look away.

Rated: 3.5/4

Apr 27, 2020

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Molly Templeton

Eugene Weekly (OR)

I can't fault the film on a technical level and I can appreciate the years of work that went into it. But it's manipulative and condescending, a series of striking visuals appropriated and arranged into a film that's not half as deep as it thinks it is.

Feb 26, 2019

Full Review

Patrick Gamble

CineVue

Each painstakingly shot sequence and beautifully rendered frame speaks volumes -- presenting a fascinating riddle of humanist metaphors and allegories.

Rated: 4/5

Feb 2, 2019

Full Review

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Synopsis

Filmmaker Ron Fricke creates a global travelogue with pictures and music, exploring the Himalayas, the American Southwest, European cathedrals, and other beautiful sites.

Director: Ron Fricke
Screenwriter: Ron Fricke, Mark Magidson
Distributor: Oscilloscope Pictures
Production Co: Moonlighting Films, Bang Singapore, Magidson Films, Bullet Productions, Panorama Films, Bali Film Center
Rating: PG-13 (Some Sexual Images|Some Disturbing Images)
Genre: Documentary, Music
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 24, 2012, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): May 1, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $1.8M