I'm sure there are those who will think this film is stupid or boring, but those of us who care about the way the world moves will sense more than what it shows.
In an interview, Godfrey Reggio (director) said, "For some people it's an environmental film, some people it's an ode to technology, for some people it's a piece of shit, for other people it moves them deeply."
You have to have a commitment to watching the entire lengthy film, uninterrupted, remaining conscious, allowing your thoughts to arise and subside, without judgment, or just watching that judgment. At the completion of the film, your consciousness will be seriously altered, by just watching. Watching this movie is an experience, beyond intellect. You just watch, because you committed to do so, and see where you end up. It is worth the effort.
I see people who all are thinking something; What do they dream of? Are they happy? Are they in hurry? Is this the life they wanted? Is this remarkable moment in their lives? When normal people can be captured on a film & be played forever? Is it like winning death? There are a a lot of hazzle on the streets. People don't seem to stop, think & enjoy themselves. To me this music represents somehow the simple desperation of living. We all just try to be happy, but then again we can't, we always need something else. Like in this clip, no one is smiling. There are a lot of people, but then again we're all alone with ourselves. There's a huge crowd of people, but they all seem the same. But maybe the main idea of this movie was to make a epic clip of humanity's achievements?
I somewhat agree with this comment, however, people not smiling doesn't mean they aren't happy, and people shouldn't always be happy, sometimes we have to feel sad, angry,etc. I know a lot about psychology, and I've learned its unhealthy to always force yourself to be happy, of course, you want to be happy when you can, but sometimes you just need to let it all out, you know? I have to thank you for posting this comment however, it had made me think about being more open. I have the mindset that you could be great friends with near everyone if you just talked to them and got to know them really well.
This is one of the best 3minutes on RUclips. Everyone who wants to know anything about modern life, or 1980s USA should see this and everyone else should see it anyway. The cuts between these faces are my favourite part of Koyaanisquatsi and for me the most poignant apart from the shocking finale.
@@johnspooner1403 mental illness @ john. put the puzzle together of his comment and you can tell what it is. Its either mental illness and you totally understand but cannot comprehend. Or you are just one of the sheeple out there. who cares. For your health.
@@johnspooner1403 It's basically a metaphor of how humanity's "aim for the stars" might backfire if we're not careful and humble ourselves. At least that's one of the interpretations I have.
This music and movie just reveal all the grand illusion of our species, our kind. Not only light illusion, or words illusion or the commercial at 1:30, its all about our way of life as a civilization, we are unbalanced and blinded ...
The illusion that we’re going to last forever and that this is immortal. The bright ads and the drunk carelessness of Vegas will crumble with us and all that will be left is an ocean of plastic leftovers from an age of gluttony and overconsumption.
The pilot scene is fantastic. He's everything a fighter pilot actually is. Deadly serious, wouldn't hesitate to drop a nuclear weapon if ordered to do so.
It doesn't look or sound the same when you're out there in the midst of it, does it? And I don't just mean that it's 30 or 40 years after the footage was shot, either.
This scene always really impacted me. Although "The Grand Illusion" was a fairly major play, I do wonder if in the context of this movie it is being used a statement about life and how people live.
It absolutely is. The director of the film could have used any multitude of billboards at the time but he chose THAT billboard. I think it absolutely has meaning.
The illusion is that everyone thinks that this system is stable but it’s bound to fail at any time now. I also interpret it as the illusion that we’re satisfied with this structure of living.
Seeing stuff like this showing the mode of dress and all the "styles" of things in the mid to late 70's and early 80's makes me glad we changed all of them. LOL! :) But it's always cool to see things of a particular era; it's like it's reminding us that that era has a time and place in history, just like this one will.
those women staring... had no idea they would be staring into so many people.. they creep me out.. atleast the dark haired one.. and the blonde.. and the 2nd from the left..
yo how real can this actually get. have a BARREL of fun in todays society is def what people are coming to. it is a grand illusion and its my displeasure to share this existence with you things. we should deny our programming.
I often wonder what became of all these people. Are any still alive? Were/Are they happy? Did they ever go to see themselves up there, on the big screen? Could they sense the connection to those, many not yet born, who would look into their eyes 40 years later and feel something?
Seth K I believe it’s a giant OTB (off track betting) place near Times Square. My grandfather would place bets there, and he’s in this scene, which I discovered accidentally while watching this classic movie on PBS. He’s at 1:30 in, the Big Guy in the yellow shirt and blazer. He was awesome. The grand illusion is that he was a gentle giant:)).
@@pearlyd1673 That's great! Since first seeing this at a very young age on VHS in the 80s, I was often curious about the individuals immortalised in Koyaanisqatsi's scenes. Who they were, what they were doing etc.
Most of them are dead. I wonder which ones could lay off the KFC and smokes and eat right and exercise, and time travel, one day at a time, to the year 2014?
@Trotsky87 Dont do it. We must be strong. We must resist the temptation to absorb its essence. The longer we do it... the bigger and the stronger its significance will be. (But it is never easy) :)
"As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark. And they were oblivious, until the flood came and swept them all away. So will it be at the coming of the Son of Man.…" Matthew 24:37-39
Life really beats you down over time. One day, You feel like you don't ever want to die and over time you're starting to be glad that you will eventually die. God? . . .No god.
@@rixille and how different are we? Free will? Dont make me laugh. If anything, I think we are worse off than ants in that sense since our eusocial structure is not well developed nor well structured.
My comments keep getting taken down. Read them whilst you can... The full film shows, on three occasions, the clear and blatant legacy of the Alien Wars that are being fought on a near daily basis around you/us on Planet Earth. There are instances in the full film that show dead aliens...scenes that show 'people' walking through one another... scenes that show the physics you are taught at 'skool' is but part of the 'Grand Illusion'... scenes that show Aliens among us... and scenes that show the complacency of the "Rich Man's Trick" that fools us all. Wake up. Unplug. Your life is a lie. Wake up. Unplug.
Exactly. Watch on psychedelics. Once your brain's bias is removed you will see what this film intended, in plain sight, to be seen. People walking through each other. The charade of 'whole' bodies. Non-Human entities. Watchers. Wake up. The Matrix is Real. See this film as just beautiful cinematography and it is 'WHOOOSH' above your head. Unplug and this is how the world really is. Unplug and you will be one of the very few that see what is REALLY going on. The single Universe you happen to be aware of is but one of an infinite variation of infinite multiverses of which each of your infinite vibrational frequencies are experiencing at each and every moment of the Big Bang. Wake Up. The Matrix is Real. Unplug.
Absolutely true. People that have grown up with TV and Mass Media have no concept whatsoever of the Grand Illusion. Over 80% of Humans have no issue that 9/11 was a pre-laid demolition... but in the USofA and the UK 80% think the three buildings that collapsed were brought down by the two innocuous, comparatively small, passenger jets that hit just two buildings. The connection... The two "Most Plugged-Into_Mass-Media" countries on the planet!!
Sir William Courtenay Dude, First off, no one can keep a secret, not even who had an affair with who. Lawyers don’t keep secrets of politicians who sleep around. Do you seriously think that no one would have stepped forward by now to produce actual evidence of participation, even anonymously? Also, do you seriously think that Americans of a great enough number to plan and set all these explosives would be party to killing their countrymen on those jets just to have the illusion it was someone else?!? I was in the military and there is no one, and I mean no one that would follow such an order. The structural engineer took the WTC girder failure personally. Fueled Passenger jets on kamikaze stuka dives have the power of extremely large bombs. Have you seen what one plane did to Lockerby Scotland? And that was not running at full throttle. Did you actually see the videos of the impact? The whole building shook violently. Those buildings had a few structural supports in the interior and they were compromised. Skyscrapers are not made to both hold the floors up AND take a direct hit by a fueled jet. I’ve seen the interviews. The fire supression material was blown off the cross members. Americans are not orders of magnitude more evil than these terrorists, sorry you sick clown. I have a close relative that was a first responder there on 9/11 and none of them believe this horse$hit.
@@sirwilliamcourtenay9395 mister courtenay, cease your investigations immediately. We will install a 5G memory eraser outside your home and if that fails we will swiftly bring you under grey alien custody and you will be captured by the men in black. Thank you for your cooperation and we hope you enjoyed your stay in civilisation(tm).
Кино
I'm sure there are those who will think this film is stupid or boring, but those of us who care about the way the world moves will sense more than what it shows.
In an interview, Godfrey Reggio (director) said, "For some people it's an environmental film, some people it's an ode to technology, for some people it's a piece of shit, for other people it moves them deeply."
You have to have a commitment to watching the entire lengthy film, uninterrupted, remaining conscious, allowing your thoughts to arise and subside, without judgment, or just watching that judgment. At the completion of the film, your consciousness will be seriously altered, by just watching. Watching this movie is an experience, beyond intellect. You just watch, because you committed to do so, and see where you end up. It is worth the effort.
I see people who all are thinking something; What do they dream of? Are they happy? Are they in hurry? Is this the life they wanted? Is this remarkable moment in their lives? When normal people can be captured on a film & be played forever? Is it like winning death? There are a a lot of hazzle on the streets. People don't seem to stop, think & enjoy themselves. To me this music represents somehow the simple desperation of living. We all just try to be happy, but then again we can't, we always need something else. Like in this clip, no one is smiling. There are a lot of people, but then again we're all alone with ourselves. There's a huge crowd of people, but they all seem the same. But maybe the main idea of this movie was to make a epic clip of humanity's achievements?
EXACTLY all my thoughts! You put it almost precisely the way I feel and I couldn't have said it more aptly myself!
I somewhat agree with this comment, however, people not smiling doesn't mean they aren't happy, and people shouldn't always be happy, sometimes we have to feel sad, angry,etc. I know a lot about psychology, and I've learned its unhealthy to always force yourself to be happy, of course, you want to be happy when you can, but sometimes you just need to let it all out, you know? I have to thank you for posting this comment however, it had made me think about being more open. I have the mindset that you could be great friends with near everyone if you just talked to them and got to know them really well.
I keep thinking, most of these people are probably dead now.
That was the beginning of Ridley Scott as film maker.
Ironically this film is even more relevant to contemporary times.
Not really ironic.
So what? Things will go the way they were. Nothing will change. Nobody cares
This is one of the best 3minutes on RUclips. Everyone who wants to know anything about modern life, or 1980s USA should see this and everyone else should see it anyway. The cuts between these faces are my favourite part of Koyaanisquatsi and for me the most poignant apart from the shocking finale.
*Late 1970s... which actually makes your comment even more accurate. It was a very confusing and conflicting time in America.
Why is the finale shocking? I never considered it to be.
@@BananaPhoPhilly So is this time. Also this movie was filmed mostly in the early 80s. You can tell by the technology.
@@johnspooner1403 mental illness @ john. put the puzzle together of his comment and you can tell what it is. Its either mental illness and you totally understand but cannot comprehend. Or you are just one of the sheeple out there. who cares. For your health.
@@johnspooner1403 It's basically a metaphor of how humanity's "aim for the stars" might backfire if we're not careful and humble ourselves. At least that's one of the interpretations I have.
One of the best films ever made.
Those advertisements are so disturbing out of context. They're probably more frightening than the implications of war
Godfrey Reggio gets the [well-deserved] accolades for this film, but it's the genius of Ron Fricke's cinematography that makes it so special.
The group of women filmed at 2:46 were cocktail waitresses at a casino (most likely the Four Queens casino) on Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas.
HAPPY 75TH BDAY PHILIP GLASS!!!! Favorite scene in the movie, amazing!
That comment is 12 years old. 😮. That means Philip is now like 87. :(. That means sadly he won’t be with us much longer.
This music and movie just reveal all the grand illusion of our species, our kind. Not only light illusion, or words illusion or the commercial at 1:30, its all about our way of life as a civilization, we are unbalanced and blinded ...
The illusion that we’re going to last forever and that this is immortal. The bright ads and the drunk carelessness of Vegas will crumble with us and all that will be left is an ocean of plastic leftovers from an age of gluttony and overconsumption.
Well said.
Both of which have gotten MANY times worse since this was filmed.
More relevant today than it was back in 1982
Know the self.
We are more than the physical.
The expressions on those people's faces really haunts me.
Today they're all carrying cell phones, glued to screens, texting while walking..
The only piece in the soundtrack with percussion.
what strikes me, is that the majority of those people are probably dead... that or very old
This, apart from the opening credits, is the only scene in the movie that has alternate-language subtitles on home video (the billboards).
The scene from 0:01 to 0:38 is time lapse photography of people standing in line to place horse bets.
In fast pace. We see human specie as a whole living organism. But in slow pace, you see every emotions and feels the individualities. Cool film.
This is the result of our evolution? This is the best society ever existed? We should reflect more about this
Until we are aware of more civilisations here on earth lost to time and dust or civilisations elsewhere, we're the best there is :(
The pilot scene is fantastic. He's everything a fighter pilot actually is. Deadly serious, wouldn't hesitate to drop a nuclear weapon if ordered to do so.
Bollocks
I don't know; from a distance, he certainly looks that way, but as it zooms in, it seems there is a vague sense of sadness in his eyes.
Hit the nail on the head!!
Soldiers of the 60s 70s and even 80s were made of some pretty tough stuff!!!! Not so much anymore though. 😒😞
@@AngryTinyManaww. :(. Never noticed that.
It doesn't look or sound the same when you're out there in the midst of it, does it? And I don't just mean that it's 30 or 40 years after the footage was shot, either.
Easily the best scene from the film. Thank you for posting!
This scene always really impacted me. Although "The Grand Illusion" was a fairly major play, I do wonder if in the context of this movie it is being used a statement about life and how people live.
It absolutely is. The director of the film could have used any multitude of billboards at the time but he chose THAT billboard. I think it absolutely has meaning.
The illusion is that everyone thinks that this system is stable but it’s bound to fail at any time now. I also interpret it as the illusion that we’re satisfied with this structure of living.
Its flat. No globe.
@@jasonodell79er No, the Earth is a fucking triangle, you moron.
@@jasonodell79er thank you odell
A foreboding sense of doom, much like the Tangerine Dream score in "Miracle Mile" when the missiles were inbound
you got a specific time for that ? in the film?
That was an awesome movie too
2:19 is the best
That thousand yard stare.
He sure was good with that stare! Didn’t blink once! Boss! Don’t know how he did it. lol
Seeing stuff like this showing the mode of dress and all the "styles" of things in the mid to late 70's and early 80's makes me glad we changed all of them. LOL! :) But it's always cool to see things of a particular era; it's like it's reminding us that that era has a time and place in history, just like this one will.
Completely missed the point.
@@SSFhighcommandJOHN didn't ask don't care cry about it cinawanker
@@SSFhighcommandJOHN There can be multiple points to this scene/movie. This is a good point to make, though perhaps not *The* point.
@@SSFhighcommandJOHNHe/She didn't miss the point. This is an EXTRA point.
@@MKMousanzthank you. 👍🏼😁
Have a barrel of fun,
those women staring... had no idea they would be staring into so many people.. they creep me out.. atleast the dark haired one.. and the blonde.. and the 2nd from the left..
Tzimi's Panousis's Live Show Backround Projections from his 80s & Post-80s Period brought me here!!!
yo how real can this actually get. have a BARREL of fun in todays society is def what people are coming to. it is a grand illusion and its my displeasure to share this existence with you things. we should deny our programming.
The risqué effluvience of this masterpiece is a hallmark of contemporary bourgeoisie sadomasochism
bro owns a thesaurus gyatt damn
Don't watch this film on acid, kids. Or maybe do. Just make sure it's a small dose, trust me.
best film ever made
Best trilogy ever made.
I must see this video once a day
Reminds the terminator 2 intro a bit.
i feel the case can be made that most modern artistic masterpieces draw upon this film in some way
I need your boots, your clothes and your motorcycle....
Have some popcorn and 🍬🍕🍫🍹and reflect on this movie.
Most of these people who thought their lives were so important are probably dead by now
I often wonder what became of all these people. Are any still alive? Were/Are they happy? Did they ever go to see themselves up there, on the big screen? Could they sense the connection to those, many not yet born, who would look into their eyes 40 years later and feel something?
Love this film
This film should just be called MAYA.
was it called "slo mo people" or something?
Yes
Apparently this is Steve Bannon’s favorite film.
someone call an hairdresser immediately.
What is the opening scene? Looks like placing bets at a racetrack.
Seth K I believe it’s a giant OTB (off track betting) place near Times Square. My grandfather would place bets there, and he’s in this scene, which I discovered accidentally while watching this classic movie on PBS. He’s at 1:30 in, the Big Guy in the yellow shirt and blazer. He was awesome. The grand illusion is that he was a gentle giant:)).
@@pearlyd1673 That's great! Since first seeing this at a very young age on VHS in the 80s, I was often curious about the individuals immortalised in Koyaanisqatsi's scenes. Who they were, what they were doing etc.
samsara!
Meraviglioso
the woman at 2:16 is the most beautiful i've ever seen.
480p*
Most of them are dead. I wonder which ones could lay off the KFC and smokes and eat right and exercise, and time travel, one day at a time, to the year 2014?
Pranx some made it
...some more than others
And not a single homeless person.
There's multiple homeless people in this movie, just not on this scene.
@Schnitzelfreaks For sure, we're like drones now.
@Trotsky87 Dont do it. We must be strong. We must resist the temptation to absorb its essence.
The longer we do it... the bigger and the stronger its significance will be.
(But it is never easy) :)
"As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark. And they were oblivious, until the flood came and swept them all away. So will it be at the coming of the Son of Man.…" Matthew 24:37-39
2:20 fuck so crazy 😮
Life really beats you down over time. One day, You feel like you don't ever want to die and over time you're starting to be glad that you will eventually die. God? . . .No god.
Bipedal Madness...
the ants are wise! WE AREN'T!!!
Ants do not have wisdom, they act on instinct and pheromones; and in a way it sustains them.
@@rixille and how different are we? Free will? Dont make me laugh. If anything, I think we are worse off than ants in that sense since our eusocial structure is not well developed nor well structured.
There is no globe.
My comments keep getting taken down. Read them whilst you can...
The full film shows, on three occasions, the clear and blatant legacy of the Alien Wars that are being fought on a near daily basis around you/us on Planet Earth. There are instances in the full film that show dead aliens...scenes that show 'people' walking through one another... scenes that show the physics you are taught at 'skool' is but part of the 'Grand Illusion'... scenes that show Aliens among us... and scenes that show the complacency of the "Rich Man's Trick" that fools us all.
Wake up. Unplug. Your life is a lie. Wake up. Unplug.
Exactly. Watch on psychedelics. Once your brain's bias is removed you will see what this film intended, in plain sight, to be seen. People walking through each other. The charade of 'whole' bodies. Non-Human entities. Watchers.
Wake up. The Matrix is Real. See this film as just beautiful cinematography and it is 'WHOOOSH' above your head. Unplug and this is how the world really is. Unplug and you will be one of the very few that see what is REALLY going on. The single Universe you happen to be aware of is but one of an infinite variation of infinite multiverses of which each of your infinite vibrational frequencies are experiencing at each and every moment of the Big Bang. Wake Up. The Matrix is Real. Unplug.
Absolutely true. People that have grown up with TV and Mass Media have no concept whatsoever of the Grand Illusion. Over 80% of Humans have no issue that 9/11 was a pre-laid demolition... but in the USofA and the UK 80% think the three buildings that collapsed were brought down by the two innocuous, comparatively small, passenger jets that hit just two buildings. The connection... The two "Most Plugged-Into_Mass-Media" countries on the planet!!
Thanks for the advice, “Knitted Ghandi”
Sir William Courtenay Dude, First off, no one can keep a secret, not even who had an affair with who. Lawyers don’t keep secrets of politicians who sleep around. Do you seriously think that no one would have stepped forward by now to produce actual evidence of participation, even anonymously? Also, do you seriously think that Americans of a great enough number to plan and set all these explosives would be party to killing their countrymen on those jets just to have the illusion it was someone else?!? I was in the military and there is no one, and I mean no one that would follow such an order. The structural engineer took the WTC girder failure personally. Fueled Passenger jets on kamikaze stuka dives have the power of extremely large bombs. Have you seen what one plane did to Lockerby Scotland? And that was not running at full throttle. Did you actually see the videos of the impact? The whole building shook violently. Those buildings had a few structural supports in the interior and they were compromised. Skyscrapers are not made to both hold the floors up AND take a direct hit by a fueled jet. I’ve seen the interviews. The fire supression material was blown off the cross members. Americans are not orders of magnitude more evil than these terrorists, sorry you sick clown. I have a close relative that was a first responder there on 9/11 and none of them believe this horse$hit.
@@sirwilliamcourtenay9395 mister courtenay, cease your investigations immediately. We will install a 5G memory eraser outside your home and if that fails we will swiftly bring you under grey alien custody and you will be captured by the men in black.
Thank you for your cooperation and we hope you enjoyed your stay in civilisation(tm).