''Naqoyqatsi'', also known as ''Naqoyqatsi: Life as War'', is a 2002 American

non-narrative film Non-narrative film is an aesthetic of cinematic film that does not narrate, or relate "an event, whether real or imaginary". It is usually a form of art film or experimental film, not made for mass entertainment. Narrative film is the dominant a ...

directed by

Godfrey Reggio Godfrey Reggio (born March 29, 1940) is an American director of experimental documentary films. Life Reggio was born in New Orleans, Louisiana to an old and distinguished Louisiana family descended from Francesco M. de Reggio, an Italian noblem ...

and edited by Jon Kane, with music composed by Philip Glass. It is the third and final installment in the

Qatsi trilogy alt=logo, thumb The ''Qatsi'' trilogy is the informal name given to a series of non-narrative films produced by Godfrey Reggio and scored by Philip Glass: * '' Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance'' (1982) * '' Powaqqatsi: Life in Transformation ...

. is a Hopi word (written as in Hopi orthography) meaning "life as war". In the film's closing credits, Naqoyqatsi is also translated as "civilized violence" and "a life of killing each other".

Synopsis

According to Reggio, the film has no screenplay per se, but three movements (like those of a symphony) with different themes:Rotten Tomatoes website
Reviews and long article on Naqoyqatsi, with input and quotations from Godfrey Reggio and Philip Glass # Numerica.com: Language and place gives way to numerical code and virtual reality. # Circus maximus: Competition, winning, records, fame, “fair play” and the love of money are elevated to the prime values of life. Life becomes a game. # Rocketship twentieth century: A world that language can no longer describe. The resulting explosive tempo of technology is war and civilized violence.

Production

The

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

against the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

took place very close to the film's production studio, impacting the content of the film and further convincing the crew of the importance of its subject. While ''

Koyaanisqatsi ''Koyaanisqatsi'' (), also known as ''Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance'', is a 1982 American experimental non-narrative film directed and produced by Godfrey Reggio with music composed by Philip Glass and cinematography by Ron Fricke. The f ...

'' and '' Powaqqatsi'' examine modern life in industrial countries and the conflict between encroaching industrialization and traditional ways of life, using slow motion and time-lapse footage of cities and natural landscapes, about eighty percent of ''Naqoyqatsi'' uses archive footage and stock images manipulated and processed digitally on

non-linear editing Non-linear editing is a form of offline editing for audio, video, and image editing. In offline editing, the original content is not modified in the course of editing. In non-linear editing, edits are specified and modified by specialized sof ...

(non-sequential)

workstation A workstation is a special computer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by a single user, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems. The term ''workstat ...

s and intercut with specially-produced computer-generated imagery to demonstrate society's transition from a natural environment to a technology-based one. Reggio described the process as " virtual cinema".

Music

The music is more in the traditional

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

l tradition than much of Glass's work as a familiar doorway to images so disconnected from the familiar world. One instrument, the

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

played by

Yo-Yo Ma Yo-Yo Ma ('' Chinese'': 馬友友 ''Ma Yo Yo''; born October 7, 1955) is an American cellist. Born in Paris to Chinese parents and educated in New York City, he was a child prodigy, performing from the age of four and a half. He graduated from ...

, plays through much of the piece. Some non-orchestral instruments are used in addition to traditional ones, including a didgeridoo and an electronically-created jaw harp. Soundtrack.net reviewer Glenn McClanan noted that unlike the previous two films, the music is more on the softer side.

Release and reception

The film was released on DVD by Miramax on October 14, 2003.

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scho ...

released this as part of the Qatsi trilogy on December 11, 2012.

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported that 48% out of 52 reviews were positive with the average score of 5.82/10, and the consensus saying that it is "the weakest film in Reggio's trilogy".

References

External links