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With a pulsing Philip Glass soundtrack graced by the beautiful cello music of Yo-Yo Ma, Godfrey Reggio's NAQOYQATSI is the final installment of his Qatsi trilogy, which also includes KOYAANISQATSI and POWAQQATSI. In this film, computer-enhanced imagery rolls across the screen to the tune of the Glass concert music. NAQOYQATSI makes a departure from the previous films, which centered on the often cruel but always fascinating struggle for survival on Earth. This film focuses mostly on technology, industry, and our increasingly machine-operated world, focusing on the United States. Not only are its images largely computer-generated, the film is in itself about computer-generated images. Strings of numbers swirl into a tunnel of black and green code, rainbow-colored Windows icons flash across the screen, and a glowing computerized globe twirls in programmed perfection. More natural imagery, such as a horse running, oceans waves crashing, or soldiers sounding off in formation, is displayed in computer-edited negative. While the visuals start to look like stock photography, their generic nature communicates another message about the narrowing of our vision as technology and industry facilitate the conversion to a more efficient, systemized, productivity driven global society.
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