This film made me uneasy. This feeling of discomfort developed as a result of the juxtaposition of scenes of calm, peaceful nature to scenes of frantic human activity, vast development, and destruction. Not only did the content of the images and footage displayed give me this feeling, but the ways in which these scenes were presented gave me this feeling as well. While I cannot say the anxious feelings I had while viewing the film were enjoyable, I would recommend this film as I feel it effectively conveys a meaningful message. I believe this message was effectively relayed to me due to this uneasy, unsettled feeling it provoked in me.

The message I surmised from this film was the koyaanisqatsi, “life out of balance,” of our world currently is troubling and out of hand. The uneasy, unsettled feeling this film provokes demonstrates how disconcerting and undesirable this imbalance is. As mentioned earlier this feeling arises from the content of the scenes shown in this film, as well as the way in which these scenes are presented. The scenes of nature seemed to be calm and at peace as they generally consisted of footage in landscapes fully, or at least partially, illuminated by overhead sunlight and were devoid of much movement other than passing clouds. The scenes of human activity and development seemed frantic and overwhelming as this footage consisted of things such as swarms of people, busy traffic, complex machines, intricate assembly lines, and towering architecture. The rotation between these various nature and human scenes contributes to feelings of uneasiness, while the juxtaposition of these scenes demonstrates the imbalance of life as life in nature and life in the human world appear to be vastly different and separate in these images.

While the content in itself provokes these feelings and demonstrates imbalance, the way in which the footage is shown enhances both of these things contributing to the effectiveness of the theme. The differential pace and motion in which footage was taken and shown displays imbalance and produces uneasy feelings. For instance, the audience witnesses imbalance between footage slowly zooming in on a peaceful body of water, to a shaky view of a drive through urban traffic. In addition, the shakiness of the city traffic view leaves the audience feeling unsettled. The constant, repetitive rotation between footage types of differing content emphasizes the imbalance between nature and man. Feelings of uneasiness are also enhanced by the interludes of destruction scenes signifying the repercussions of this imbalance between humans and nature that occurs in the form of disaster. Music used such as the Hopi chants create a tense tone that promotes this sense of being unsettled. The diversity of the music utilized by the film, combined with these chants seems imbalanced and promotes feelings of uneasiness as well. The imbalance demonstrated by the content and created by the way it is presented in the film results in feelings of discomfort contributing to the theme that this imbalance of our world today is a troubling thing.

The feeling of uneasiness created by this film and the demonstration of imbalance in this film facilitate the passage of this theme to the audience. The audience finishes their viewing of the film, having seen the imbalance and feeling uneasy, understanding our world is out of balance and this is a troubling matter worthy of concern. Effectively conveying this message, as this film does, could motivate people unsettled by this to take action addressing this imbalance between man and nature in our world.