Koyaanisqatsi presents audience a very epic picture that combines nature and human civilization with stirring and avant-garde scores by Philips Glass. The documentary was recorded in the 1980s when human civilizations had reached a very high level to such an extent that human beings had the ability to send off rockets beyond the Earth to explore the universe and it all can be put down to rapid socio-economic conditions. After the second industrial revolution, human beings were empowered with light and oil and formed the conception of domineering nature. People exploited the resources from nature regardless of results and went all out to build the world. In the meantime, too much emphasis brought upon development made human stuck in the mechanism they build. Thus, by Koyaanisqatsi, meaning “out of control in Indian language, the director wants to express unbalanced relationship between environment and development.

From the very beginning, the picture of Indian culture, and debris falling from a soaring rocket is brought into view and for a while the shot is cut to extremely pristine, stately and grave images of nature such as ranges of rugged cliffs, deep valleys between which rivers flow peacefully, boundless deserts where no life exists from the surface, lava sending off heat and smoke, waterfalls cascading from a high place, cloud floating freely up in the sky and assorted flowers planted in neat and clean lines. After the movie has revealed the greatness of nature, audience are ushered in human civilization section that combines many wonderful inventions including a enormous truck carrying sand, a Boeing 747, cars like cells flowing through the arteries of traffic, tall skyscrapers like a mirror reflecting the movement of cloud, bombs denotating old buildings, people moving up and down the elevators underground, crossing the street from side to side, neon lights shining bright and middle-aged women in dancing costumes prepared for a shot and etc. In words, Koyaanisqatsi places nature and human civilization together in an attempt to hint at the complex binary relationship between great nature and maniac development made by human beings. To make it more precise, from my perspective, what the director wants to convey in these images is the greatness of environments as well as the bankruptcy of human civilization. For example, Mother Nature in the movie is presented as spectacular, impeccable, boundless and beautiful, while development made by human beings, to some extent, takes the morbid appearance in a modern context. For example, moving cars is presented at a mad speed, so much that audience are highly likely to get dizzy and overwhelmed. Ghettos are also included in the movie where poor and wretched people wander about aimlessly and rubbish is littered everywhere. Even in the very clean downtown center of big cities, countless people rushing in packs with their faces emotionless and indifferent show no tint of hope. The movie, by the accelerated movement of people, neon lights, cars, and other artificial products in civilized society seems to reflect the meaninglessness of the whole development as no people really enjoy it and they just move mechanically like machines. It is also noteworthy that the rocket shown at the beginning of the movie is brought into view again at the end of the movie, only with a different end. The rocket, instead of soaring upward, suffers a glitch and then gets swallowed in fire, falling down in rotation. This change is symbolic of the collapse and failure of development made by human beings. In terms of the target audience, those who sticks to putting development ahead environment protection is intended to receive the message that development goes overboard and adjustment is to be made.