Samsara is a Sanskrit word that refers to the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, the turning wheel of this earthly existence, upon which we continue to spin until we attain the freedom of liberation.

Director Ron Fricke and Producer Mark Magidson, the duo who brought us the profoundly spiritual and epic documentary film Baraka, have reunited to reveal something about the nature of this wheel of life in their new film, Samsara. With a contemporary tilt, Samsara is a mandala of powerful images paired with emotional music. It is a visual expanse portraying the complexities of the world in which we live, rather than a narrative story that engages the linear mind. On screen, Samsara investigates the wonder of this life as well, the ways in which we can be unconscious, and the unsettled and agitated mind through which reality is perceived. In its awe-inspiring majestic beauty as well as its depiction of some intense truths, this masterpiece is an invitation for us to WAKE UP!

Of the film, Producer Mark Magidson says, “I think on some level we want to feel a deep connection to each other and the life experience beyond those barriers. Impermanence is essentially what the title Samsara means. So we were looking to find that kind of imagery out in the world.”

Magidson sees the film as a visual journey that is thought-provoking without judgment. He explains, “Often we have an intellectual experience, but this film with its moving images and entrancing music was made specifically to create a feeling experience.” He said, “It is like a yoga class in that it’s a moving mediation that brings about a visual sensation.”

Shot in 25 countries over a span of five years, Samsara reveals seldom-seen views of people and the planet, including some locations where it took the team over a year of effort to secure permission to shoot. The rich high-resolution images were filmed in a 70mm format, offering an incredible crispness and depth of the visual journey. At 102 minutes, the combination of images and music make it a stunning work of pure artistry that leaves you in complete awe of all of the facets of this human experience on this planet.

We, as viewers, feel the visceral nature of the emotional journey, thanks to the efforts of talented composers, musicians, and vocalists Michael Sterns, Marcello De Francisci, and Lisa Gerrard. The dream-like music nods to different cultural rhythms and allows us to travel the world without a passport in a magical meditation.

Close to the opening scene of Samsara, a trio of wide-eyed costumed Balinese dancers precisely gesture with their hands, inviting us to enter a sacred passageway of visions of Samsara. Throughout the film, we return to colorful images of monks as they carefully constructing a magnificent mandala, one grain of sand at a time, and then ceremoniously destroy their creation. Revisiting the monks at work offers a visual representation of the immense beauty found within the impermanence.

Many of the images, like the monks, reveal an engaged relationship with spirit, including the echo of chanting in the cathedral of Notre Dame, young monks turning a prayer wheel, a sea of pilgrims praying at Mecca.

One of Samsara’s most breathtaking images was the filmmakers’ favorite shoot: an aerial scene of the Bagan pagoda temples scattered amongst lush green of Myanmar or Burma, visually presenting the power of spirit. They filmed the expanse while in a hot air balloon, gliding above the temples.

The journey also guides us through some intense imagery related to the impacts of our choices: revealing people sifting through the detritus of a Philippine garbage dump, men hauling sulfur in a Javanese volcanic mine, a munitions factory, prayers along the wailing wall, food processing plants, and the grace of women balancing baskets in an African marketplace.

Portraits abound on screen as we gaze into eyes larger than life, such as a particularly soulful glance of a geisha, cementing our human connection on this spinning wheel. The use of skillful time-lapse photography further entrances,  including the mesmerizing eye of a hurricane of Mecca or the people rushing by in subway stations.

The film is a stunning, almost intoxicating visual experience that took me on this journey of Samsara. I felt the beauty, suffering, sadness, and ecstasy that we all experience on the wheel of this life.

The clear message here is that we need to wake up and become more aware of our environment, our consumerism, our consumption, and our collective slave/robotic hypnotic mannerisms. After watching the film, I was left with a feeling of how important is it to love and support each other as love is the universal energy that connects us all to the beauty that exists. When I asked Magidson how the journey of making this film impacted him, he said it taught him to be more compassionate and more grateful—reminders to us all.

Samsara opens in theaters in Los Angeles on August 31: barakasamsara.com.

Suzanne Bryant (suzannebryant.com) is a spiritual psychologist, wellness coach, journalist and the filmmaker of Yoga Is: A Transformational Journey, which releases nationwide on Magnolia Pictures on September 25: yogaismovie.com. 

Suzanne Bryant

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This quote from Albert Einstein begins the new film, People vs the State of Illusion.

We face challenges everyday but how do we see a way out when we feel trapped? What happens when our present situation isn’t serving us, no matter what we do? What is the solution when we can’t seem to manifest what we really want? Do we give up or get out of a situation that is causing us suffering?

Perhaps there is another way of thinking that can bring about change in our lives.

This is the radical and innovate idea explored in People vs. the State of Illusion. In this film, former attorney, and current coach, Yoga teacher, and filmmaker Austin Vickers sets up what he calls the most important trial we could ever witness—a trial that cross-examines our perceptions, our state of illusion.

Austin claims that we become stuck in patterns of thoughts and beliefs which create prisons around us. In People vs State these prison walls are a metaphor used to lead viewers on a journey through the eyes of someone who not only feels trapped in his life, but has become literally imprisoned. We follow the main character, single father Aaron Roberts, as he is coping with crippling stress. In a moment, his life changes when he is involved in a car accident, driving after a few glasses of wine. The other driver was killed, Aaron is incarcerated, and his daughter becomes a ward of the state. Aaron’s subsequent time behind bars causes him to re-evaluate his imprisonment and find a new way of perceiving his world. While his prison walls may be real, they reflect the virtual walls we experience in our own lives.

As proposed in the film, once we realize the “prison walls” in our minds are created by our imagination, we can incorporate that same imagination to release ourselves from painful illusions and end our suffering. It took imagination for us to arrive where we are now, so Austin encourages us to redirect our imagination to release ourselves from situations that appear to be not working.

Accompanied by a host of expert witnesses including Joe Dispensa, Debbie Ford, Thomas Moore, Dr. Peter Senge, Dr. Candace Pert, and Dr. Michael Vandermark, Austin sets out to convince us that shifting our perceptions allows us to change our lives. As Dr. Vandermark states, “We create our own prison walls by our biases and beliefs.”

Finding freedom involves what Austin identifies as the Content to Process Shift.

In this, Austin says, “We shift our awareness away from the content of our lives, the things we want and the dramas and begin to focus instead on the ways we are reacting or interacting with that content. We examine the processes or patterns of our thinking in reaction to those events and circumstances.” Austin continues, “When we stop becoming so consumed by the addictive drama of life, we can begin to make serious headway towards change and creating the life we want by recognizing the ‘way we think’ rather than the ‘what of our thinking’.”

Some of the impetus for exploring this journey came from Austin’s personal experiences with depression. At first it frightened him. He would turn inward and spend time at home writing rather than socializing. Then he realized the value of his depression: it would allow him to cultivate creativity. Changing this perception allowed him to accept his feelings, and in doing so he stopped experiencing the lowest lows of depression. Whenever he felt the feelings coming on, on he would accept it and focus on the creative value of the feelings and they would dissipate.

One of the ideas expressed in the film is, “The only reality that exists is the reality we choose to participate in.” Austin explains, “We are imagining everything, either consciously or unconsciously.” We cannot possibly process all of the information of reality surrounding us. Austin says, “We are capable of consciously processing less than one one-thousanth of one percent of the information we have access to; so what we experience in the world is not reality, but a view of ourselves that for most people is largely unconscious, because we react to life so habitually.  Once we realize we are imagining almost everything, we can begin to be conscious of that imagination and find imaginations that serve us and others.  That is when the magic in life begins.”

What happens to our protagonist Aaron behind bars? How does he engage in the Content to Process Shift? What are the final decisions by judge and jury? In order to answer these questions, see the film. It just may stimulate you to see your own life differently.

People vs the State of Illusion is being released by Samuel Goldwyn Films in theaters across the US. Sign up for the latest news at: thestateofillusion.com.

Suzanne Bryant is a writer, health coach, Yoga teacher and filmmaker, whose film Yoga Is, explores her own journey to find a way out of suffering through the practice of Yoga. Yogais.com.

Suzanne Bryant

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