The World Cruzer

An extraordinary journey through planet Earth, humanity and space.

This rather intriguing and genuine documentary from Germany makes the audience feel like they are traveling around the globe, arriving at any part of it in the blink of an eye, and seeing the beauty of it and mankind's progress. The people who view this film will see a lot of things, as it contains a rich collection of images that seem to show what life is like on Earth.

The entire feature is basically a one-hour-and-forty-minute long montage of wonderful images, some of which are about Earth and others about space. It could also be categorised as a music video, with electronic music by the band Reecode. There is voice-over from a narrator and several other individuals who appear to portray unknown and unseen characters. The narrator talks about an entity called The World Cruzer, who embarks on a journey, traveling around the world. The character voices belong to a group of people who express their opinions on a variety of subjects including acceptance, happiness and self-discovery. Their words appear like text messages from messaging apps, pointing out that this is a way many people communicate these days.

Regarding the words and messages, they come across as philosophical and wise and some seem to be advice on how to live a productive life. The visuals appear to represent the topic of the narration that accompanies them.

Visually, the documentary contains stock footage, animation and photographs. The images cover many areas, including social issues, space, nature, the ocean and people around the world. The viewers will see many animals, both on land and in the ocean, all kinds of people, beautiful landscapes and astronauts in space. There is a great deal of slow motion and Niess did a great job with the editing.

Interestingly, if the voice-over was removed, this would be a different kind of experience, taking the viewer on a journey filled with wonderful music and mesmerising visuals. It would also make an interesting viewing if there was nothing to see, no images only audio, with people listening to the voice-over and score.

Although to some it might feel a bit overlong, this documentary is quite a journey and one that explores the wonders of Planet Earth and the evolution of mankind. It is a calming and fascinating look into Earth, humanity and space.