I haven’t been able to get the chant out of my head since Monday. Koyaanisqatsi, Koyaanisqatsi, Koyaanisqatsi, Koyaanisqatsi, Koyaanisqatsi, Koyaanisqatsi, Koyaanisqatsi, Koyaanisqatsi.

Like many others in our class, the movie weighed really heavily on me. From the very start, I was confused. The film seemed like some type of torture material rather than a documentary. As the film continued, however, I started to feel depressed. I think that many environmental documentaries, like Cove, are presented with a sad or depressing message. This movie was different.

The emotional weight of the film didn’t come from a narrator or a distinct plot line. Instead, it burned analogous images into my brain until I was so overwhelmed with modern society that I could barely keep watching.

The shots of New York City have stuck with me two days later. Although I’m from a densely populated suburb of Boston, I’ve always felt more comfortable in rural settings (you probably know that by now). I’ve been to New York a number of times but I’ve never really enjoyed it. I’m completely overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle. There is always too much going on and everything is cramped and dirty.

Watching Koyssnisqatsi amplified that stress. The film kept repeating the escalator images and the shots of thousands of people in the streets. Everyone seemed so generic, bored, or sad.

Since this piece was filmed in the 1980s, it was interesting to see it with from a modern environmental perspective. The film isn’t addressing climate change or wildlife conservation. Instead, I interpreted it to be a message of warning. “Look what our planet has become. It started as this lush, untouched world that was beautiful. Now, by the billions, we build and move around our cities like robots in an assembly line.”

There was certainly a lot thrown at you in this film. It is hard to process all of it and while I’d like to take another shot at it, I’m not sure if I could stand to watch it again.