Shot in 70mm over a period of five years in 25 countries by Ron Fricke, the man who photographed Koyaanisqatsi and directed Chronos and Baraka, this is a compilation, or collage, of beautiful and striking images put together for suggestive and meditative effect. There is no commentary but there is music, some specially commissioned, and a "concept" devised by Fricke and producer/co-editor/co-writer Mark Magidson, turning on a variety of opposites – growth/decay, wonder/disgust, tradition/rootlessness, purpose/futility, faith/disbelief. Much of the stop-motion or undercranked camerawork is designed to make crowds into seething anthills and to emphasise the absurdity of repetitive work, and it's rather trying. Still, there are so many remarkable images that there is something every few seconds to provoke or please. I was reminded, however, of a line by the New Yorker writer Peter De Vries: "On the surface he may seem deep. But deep down inside,...