This attractive film is about the relationship of people and their environment, a contrast between mankind's world with the natural world. There is neither dialogue nor narrative. Koyaanisqatsi is a Hopi word that means out of balance. We never see Hopis in their habitat of cliff-rock dwellings of adobe construction.
The first image in the film is of the Great Gallery pictograph in Horseshoe Canyon, in Canyonlands National Park, Utah. The section shown depicts several tall, shadowed figures standing near a taller figure adorned with a crown. The next image is a close-up of a Saturn V rocket during its launch (Apollo 11). The film fades into a shot of a desolate desert landscape. From there, it progresses to footage of various natural phenomena such as waves and clouds. They are Petroglyphs and atomic bomb detonations. There are other beautiful landscapes: Bryce Canyon, Glen Canyon, and Monument Valley.
Time-lapse is used in the film, along with slow-motion. A striking visual image is the movement of the moon behind the skyscraper. There is other time-lapse photography like clouds, people walking, etc. There are crowded cities with cars and factories and machinery (making TVs, sewing jeans, etc.), Grand Central Station, slum buildings, auto-assembly plant, trash, folks rushing to and fro, overcrowded beaches, and crazy life, life in turmoil. We see meat packing: hot dogs, Twinkies, and the monotony of lunch meat. Also seen are tanks, planes, bombs, rockets. A power plant provides electricity but also invades the earth.
The film ends with flaming rocket, desert rock art, and a message, "If we dig precious things from the land, we will invite disaster."
In 2000, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, aesthetically, or historically significant".
The first image in the film is of the Great Gallery pictograph in Horseshoe Canyon, in Canyonlands National Park, Utah. The section shown depicts several tall, shadowed figures standing near a taller figure adorned with a crown. The next image is a close-up of a Saturn V rocket during its launch (Apollo 11). The film fades into a shot of a desolate desert landscape. From there, it progresses to footage of various natural phenomena such as waves and clouds. They are Petroglyphs and atomic bomb detonations. There are other beautiful landscapes: Bryce Canyon, Glen Canyon, and Monument Valley.
Time-lapse is used in the film, along with slow-motion. A striking visual image is the movement of the moon behind the skyscraper. There is other time-lapse photography like clouds, people walking, etc. There are crowded cities with cars and factories and machinery (making TVs, sewing jeans, etc.), Grand Central Station, slum buildings, auto-assembly plant, trash, folks rushing to and fro, overcrowded beaches, and crazy life, life in turmoil. We see meat packing: hot dogs, Twinkies, and the monotony of lunch meat. Also seen are tanks, planes, bombs, rockets. A power plant provides electricity but also invades the earth.
The film ends with flaming rocket, desert rock art, and a message, "If we dig precious things from the land, we will invite disaster."
In 2000, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, aesthetically, or historically significant".