Dialogue is often considered the defining element of a movie. Some of the best movies of all time are also the most frequently quoted. It gives viewers a channel with which to relate to the characters, to the situations and the overall pathos of the movie. It gives viewers an idea of the message the producers are trying to send, the tone the director is attempting to the set, the personality actors are trying to portray.
Koyaanisqatsi is not however, a traditional movie. It possesses no real characters, no discernible plot and on the surface, seemingly no organization. Indeed, there is not a single line of dialogue from beginning to end. In effect, Koyaanisqatsi is more accurately a work of art than a work of cinema. As such, it is very much open to interpretation. With no words at its disposal, the movie makes no attempt at indoctrinating or necessarily even at maintaining a constant message.
The narrative, if indeed one can be considered to exist at all, is thoroughly driven by the score. It is alternately fast and slow, languid and dynamic. The music invites contemplation and what message that can be derived from the structured mess of images flashing by on the screen is one the viewers must search out and discover for themselves.
The score in the background provides a general mood but makes nothing obvious. Mournfully slow music accompanies both sunrises painting the horizon and images of industrial plants hovering in the distance as beachgoers relax on a sandy shore. Fast paced tunes underscore both shots of river valleys and wide swaths of farmland. Almost frantic music accompanies chaotic and conflicting scenes across the screen. There are shots of clouds roiling and spilling over the mountaintops, of walls of water crashing and smashing into each other, of mountaintops blown sky high in a shower of rock and dirt, of people swarming along sidewalks and through streets.
Fundamentally, the movie appears to be an exploration of the interaction between humans and technology. Throughout the course of the film, there are more and more depictions of this interaction. A sizeable segment of the beginning of the movie contains successive scenes of nature at work. Darkness creeps through a canyon as the sun goes down, swallowing the rock face inch by inch. Wisps of clouds float in and out of existence, roiling like the seas and bursting up like the flares on the sun’s surface, expanding and ballooning. A rushing waterfall spills by the millions of gallons into an abyss, eroding the rock below through sheer force of the torrent and throwing mist into the air for miles around.
Then come factories spewing steam and dust into the atmosphere, rows of tanks as far as the eye can see, fighter jets lined up with military accuracy, bombs falling and tumbling through the air toward earth and a rocket launching up into the black void of space.
New York City itself is shown with darkened clouds floating through the skyscrapers like spirits. Cars rush past like ants on hyperdrive, trash and debris pile up on the dirty sidewalks while broken lampposts swing in the wind. Explosions take down buildings, bridges explode, cranes topple, debris is thrown into the air, flying here and there as if with a mind of their own. In the midst of this, the music stops and black clouds loom on the horizon. Lightning strikes again and again as night descends, lights flutter on and life continues.
There is again, no overt message. The film can be taken as an accusation of the damage humankind has done by misusing their profound gift for invention and creation. Or it can be seen as an ode to that exact ability to subordinate and master the forces of nature with our ingenuity and brilliance. Or perhaps it is a mix of both, a mix of exaltation at our many accomplishments and an expose of our numerous faults. What we choose to take from the movie perhaps tells us more about ourselves than the movie itself.
Personally, I prefer the last interpretation. Just like humankind’s interaction with nature and technology, the movie is not simple. It is not as easy to interpret as a straightforward yea or nay judgment on our tenure on this planet we all call home.
In the images of mists hugging mountain faces and undulating waves, I glimpse something of the awesome power of nature to both destroy and nurture, communicated in a way words can never do justice to. In the juxtaposition of images comparing the layout of a modern city to the layout of a microchip and depicting a fast and gleaming world made possible by the teeming highways, I see how technology, in its many forms, has made life possible and comfortable for so many people. But then there are shots of dynamite blowing apart age old rock faces to help machines spewing dark soot get at the raw materials helping to drive the modern world, of a radioactive mushroom cloud expanding and propelling itself up into the atmosphere, a testament to what our destructive tendencies are truly capable of. Many of the scenes have a more ambiguous meaning than the explosion of nuclear bombs. There are skyscrapers extending up, their glass surfaces reflecting the blue sky and clouds that ring it. There are buildings imploding in on themselves, at once a representation of destruction and a symbol of rebirth and renewal.
Perhaps the movie’s most important effect then is to spur the thinking processes of the viewers. When the last scene fades away on the screen and the three quotes appear one by one against the black background, the audience cannot but help reexamining the effect of technology on our lives and on the environment around us. No matter what conclusions they come to, at the very least, they are spurred to think these questions, which are integral to the future of human civilization itself. That itself is a worthy accomplishment in a society which often shrinks away from even thinking about the consequences of their actions, especially when it comes time to consider the costs of the life modern technology enables us to lead.
The way Koyaaniqatsi nudges viewers toward consideration of this topic is not so heavy handed as to cause them to recoil. Like all art, it inspires dialogue and puts the seeds of thought into the minds of the viewers. This is itself a boon for in raising awareness of the issue, at the very least more people will understand a problem exists. In a way then, Koyaaniqatsi is doing its part in affecting social change, pushing the segment of the population that views it to a heightened consciousness of our responsibility to be informed, if not necessarily to take action. For often, the most important revolutions must first be completed in the mind before they can be acted on in truth. Only when people are convinced of the need to act will they bend their efforts and sacrifice their comforts to a purpose. If we are, as a species, to perpetuate the good and eliminate the ills pictured in Koyanniqatsi, there will have to be sacrifice and there will have to be careful consideration. The movie’s purpose and its greatest success will thus be in causing us to think about these topics in different ways. What we do with the conclusions we reach and the resolutions we make is our own.
