So, Naqoyqatsi is opening (albeit in limited release) on 18 Oct 2002. To those of you heathens (ha!) who have not been indoctrinated, this is the perfect opportunity, and they suggest the following regimen:
- 04 Oct 2002 – Rent, beg, or borrow Koyaanisqatsi (You won’t be able to buy the DVD until the 18th, apparently, although they still have a liserdisc of it), get yourself into as meditative state as any geek can achieve, and sit down and watch it. Although best done with a loved one or good friends, it can be done alone.
- 11 Oct 2002 – Follow up with Powaqqatsi the following weekend, an ideal film for providing context for musing on the events a year and a month earlier. Notice particularly the little girl walking beneath the word for “war”…
- 18 Oct 2002 – Go and view Naqoyqatsi on opening weekend, if for no other reason than to have somthing to talk about intelligently for months later.
Now, if you are reading this on a web site (as is most likely the case), you may be wondering, “Why would a technology-based group, such as they.com, be recommending an anti-technology film series such as the “qatsi” series?”
Well, you might as well ask why an anti-technology film would (or better yet, HOW an anti-technology film COULD) be made using 80% digitally altered stock footage. Well, they have an answer for you:
They have been around computers for most of their life. As a matter of fact, they are quite good at making computers do what they want them to. On the other hand, most of the computers they deal with are broken in some form or fashion. What trust would you have in your car if you were a mechanic, and almost every car you saw day in and day out was poorly designed, poorly maintained, and manipulated by people who shouldn’t have any business operating a machine which holds the lives of so many others in their hands?
OK, that may not be a fair assessment. See the films and decide for yourself…