Powaqqatsi (1988) on Netflix
G19881h 40mDocumentary
A wordless film moves through the developing world, from gold miners at Serra Pelada to monks, rowers and worshippers in Africa and Asia. Traditional ways of life meet industrialization there.
- Netflix3.2/5
- IMDb7.2/109,482 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes56%
Trailer
Plot summary
The second film in the Qatsi trilogy, after Koyaanisqatsi, takes its title from a Hopi phrase coined for a way of living that is parasitic, or a life in transition. Like its predecessor it has no dialogue, and where the earlier film looked at industrial countries, this one turns to the developing world. Men carry sacks of dirt up from the Serra Pelada gold mine in Brazil. A sun rises over an African village; a man raises a sail. Monks walk by a river, a woman prays in the Ganges, and a temple stands in Nepal. Further sections gather crowds at work and in ritual in Africa and South America, along with traffic in China, Africa and India, and blend in television advertisements and news programs from the United States, Western Europe, the Soviet Union and Japan.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Powaqqatsi (1988)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Music from the film's chapter "Anthem: Part 2" was used in the 1998 film The Truman Show and is now best associated with it; it also appeared in several film trailers, including that of Dead Man Walking.
- Footage from Powaqqatsi, the same shot used for its poster, turned up in the 1990 television special The Earth Day Special, in a sequence where Dr. Emmett Brown from Back to the Future shows Doogie Howser, M.D. what Earth's future looks like unless something is done about pollution.
Stills
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