The Language of Images

“We comprehend... that nuclear power is a real danger for mankind, that over-crowding of the planet is the greatest danger of all. We have understood that the destruction of the environment is another enormous danger. But I truly believe that the lack of adequate imagery is a danger of the same magnitude. It is as serious a defect as being without memory. What have we done to our images? What have we done to our embarrassed landscapes? I have said this before and will repeat it again as long as I am able to talk: if we do not develop adequate images we will die out like dinosaurs.”    -Werner Herzog

Earlier this fall, I saw the film Samsara, a visual documentary that examines the state of the modern world, and I am still thinking about it.  I am not reflecting so much about what the movie was about, but rather how it was able to affect me so deeply. The movie touched on many issues, which I am already familiar with such as destruction of the environment, the stupidity of war, mass consumerism and gluttony.  I realized this as I was watching the movie and could sense my resistance to seeing yet another documentary about these issues. And yet, despite my resistance, Samsara seeped into my body.  I realized later that movie was able to surpass my conscious resistance and touch me  because Samsara spoke with the logic of images rather than with that of words.

 The movie is a collage of gorgeous imagery that takes the viewer on a tour of the world; through it’s natural landscapes, concrete cities, extraordinary beauty and great tragedy.  Shot in 70 mm, the film itself is stunning to look at and the camera movement is articulate and graceful.  There were a couple of images that were so poignant that if the movie consisted of just those images it would have been enough.  One of these images is of a soldier who face is badly deformed as a result of combat.  He stood proudly in a military graveyard, wearing his uniform and holding the American flag.  The camera held on this image for a while and it was sincerely heart wrenching, tragic and said so much about on the different ways war can be viewed.

Filipino, Philippines "Dancing Inmates" from Cebu Provincial Detention and
Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC), a maximum security prison.

 Interestingly, I couldn’t say exactly what war this soldier had been fighting in or where he was standing and this lack of information is true through out the entire film.  Samsara has no real beginning or end, but is a collage of imagery from all over the world, organized sometimes by subject, other times by shape, color or idea, with no logical sense of time or progression. There is no text telling the viewer what city they are in, what is happening or what has happened leading up to the image.  Essentially, our ability to name what we are seeing is taken away and this makes it difficult to contextualize the shot or ground ourselves. The result is destabilizing kaleidoscope and although the sound disturbing, it is the power of the film and it is why I was able to understand the film viscerally rather than logically.  Letting the images rather than words lead the way creates new pathways of understanding that reside in the body rather than the mind.

“To see is to forget the name of the thing one sees.”  -Paul Valéry