This will the non-tripped-out version of my review of this amazing set of music videos.

Apparently, this DVD was released last year, and I never knew or heard about it until just a week and a half ago, when I happened to spot it in the Westminster Best Buy. How did that happen? This is an awesome DVD. I never saw it in the Broomfield Best Buy (the usual place to visit), or any promotions, shelf displays, or anything else at all. How very wierd.

Well, now I have it, and I've been watching it again, this time with my brain in a slightly more "down to earth" state. And.... Wow.

After watching all the videos again, I think my brain is slightly less down to earth than it was an hour ago. This is some wacky stuff.

Although... the menu navigation is just plain strange, even if your brain is not off in another world. Maybe that's to add to the "mood" or something.

I'll transcribe what the voice over says if one selects the "Facts" option from the main menu:

It was 10 years ago that Michael Cretu sent his magical project, Enigma, on a trip around the world. It was a journey uniting the various cultures of all the countries with rhythms, sounds, and voices.

While restless spirits were changing trends, styles, and fashions on a seasonal basis, Enigma remains a continuium which reinvents itself. Whether you want to dream or dance, contemplate or love, meditate or make a joyful noise, Enigma makes music for the entire being, and each listener interprets it in his or her own way. Ambiguous, intricate, and seductive.

Out of the four Enigma works, selling a total of over 25 million ablums worldwide, Michael Cretu has chosen 11 pieces which reflect his memory of the future. Eleven songs, eleven signals which penetrate all barriers, eleven videos showing images that have never been imagined, eleven stories combined that tell an even greater story: The story of life.

Um... yeah, that's lofty language. I didn't even get around to watching that little blurb until tonight.

A note on erotic content: Technically speaking, most of the videos would probably come pretty close to passing FCC guidelines for broadcast television. Well, except maybe a few shots. I don't think anyone except the most staunchly puritanical element within the U.S. would truly classify these videos as fitting the definition of "porn". (Let's not name anyone who might hold the Attorney General's office, mmmkay?)

HOWEVER, some of the imagery is highly sexually suggestive. Sometimes, it's not what you show, but what you don't show that make things all the more intense. Blurred focus ajdusted to instant clarity simultaniously as a sharp crescendo hits the music, careful framing and panning, or a shot cut just microseconds before what might be imagined as a moment of orgasm. Truly, at least in the mind of this viewer, these sorts of subtleties can be far more powerful than a pile of openly bare skin as human animals do it for the camera in the proverbial barnyard.

On top of it, add many thick doses of religious and literary symbolism, and you have one hell of a mind ride.

I will now describe and briefly discuss each of the videos. If music videos can have SPOILERS, then they will be below. (Personally, I don't think spoiler content is as much of a concern when one is discussing music videos. But you never know; maybe there are some people who don't want it described before witnessing it themselves. And some of the videos do tell what could be considered stories. So that's the warning.)

Also, I'll inevitably be putting my interpretations into these descriptions. My interpretation may not be what was intended, or what other people see when they watch them. To each their own.

• Sadeness, Part 1

  The first Enigma video ever. I remember watching this one in awe years ago. It still stands up pretty well, although when watching the DVD, you can tell that it was transferred from a slightly less pristine video source, naturally. But still, the video quality is very good.

  In this video, we see a man who appears to be a monk writing on a scroll in a monestary. He falls asleep and has a vision. During this vision... well.... lots of wacky imagery is presented. Ancient ruins. (Beautifully photographed.)

  Then, out of the screen, the face of a young woman, sternly questioning, "Sade, dit moi. Sade, donne moi." (I read enough of the FAQ years ago to remember that the song is about the Marquis de Sade.)

  More ruins. Swirling around. A demonic looking statue, which dissolves into the shape of the woman, and later back into the statue.

  The monk runs away, terrified at what he has seen. He morphs into nothing but a cloak, and flies out the doors into dark oblivion....

  And then he wakes up, alight shining down onto his face from above.

  End of video.

  What does it mean? I'm not even going to venture a guess at this point. Maybe I'll speculate another time.

• Mea Culpa

  First off: The words to this song, written in latin, are some of the most intensely.... well... the word "romantic" does not sufficiently describe them. They are beyond that. But powreful. It's a beautiful song.

  The accompanying imagery in the video is fittingly catholic. Burning. Lots and lots of burning. Representative of hell, and a willingness to accept it for the sake of love? Or a medieval burning at the stake, perhaps due to an admission of guilt?

  Tons of symbols and shapes, most of which I can't identify. Cast in shadows. Maps. Patterns. The body of a woman being sacrificed. Burned alive?

  People dancing, as the images of searing flames are superimposed over them. Rose petals. Ancient buildings. It's just.... To beautiful to describe, really.

  And in the end, she bows her head in submission of whatever fate is to come, as the flames engulf the screen.

  Yeah. This is a great video. From the vintage Enigma days. /me applauds.

• Principles of Lust

  Hmmm.... The words are enough to make a "good Christian" quiver. Well, at least I did, back when I was a still something resembling a Good Christian boy at age 14.

  The principles of lust
  Are easy to understand
  Do what you feel
  Feel until the end
  
  The principles of lust
  Are burned in your mind
  Do what you want
  Do it until you find
  Love
  

  This is Holy Music.

  The video begins with a reverse time shot of a bunch of white candles smoking (the smoke flows downward), and then, still running backwards, the candles regain their flames and burn.

  We then dissolve into a whole barrage of erotic imagery, women in a surreal antique bedroom wearing lingerie. It almost reminds me of a Victoria's Secret commercial, except far more stylish. And blatently sexual. (Touching involved.)

  Intercut with these images are a pair of sparkling red lips, which pretty much take up the whole screen, enunciating the lyrics. "The principles of lust, are easy to understand..."

  There is one man, fully clothed in white, also in the antique bedroom, getting it on with some of the women.

  Then we dissolve into the sky, where shadowed bodies dance. Under water... A dagger being waved around, which she uses to cut her own back, and glittery silver particles fly out.

  More teasingly erotic imagery.

  And I think the title of the song does a pretty good job of describing this video.

• The Rivers of Belief

  Ah, this is a beautiful one. A very different mix than the sound on the album.

  It starts with a very very famous classical organ piece I should know the name of, but... I'll just say it's ridiculously familiar. (Wait, wait! I know. Beethoven. Symphony No 5. Hah.)

  We then fade into the Enigma beat.

  If you believe in light, it's because of obscurity. If you believe in joy, it's because of sadness. And if you believe in God, it's because of the devil.

  This video is pretty much a montage of stunning exteriors. Pyramids. Oceans. Forests. A young man running through. Arial shots of an arctic winter.

  And then we get into some Arthurian references. The lady rising out of the lake with the sword. The sword being used in battle to slay an opponent.

  And when he sings, you can see the faint image of the Curly M.C. himself, Michael Cretu, passionately singing the music.

  Take me back
  To the rivers of belief
  Take me back
  To the riveres of belief
  My friend
  And look inside my heart
  And look inside my soul!
  
  I'm reaching out with you
  And hope one day
  We'll rest in peace
  On my rivers of belief
  

• Return to Innocence

  With this, we move into songs taken from the second Enigma album, The Cross of Changes.

  This video is pretty much full of reverse motion shots. Fruit rising up into the air to take its place on the tree again. Ocean waves backing up into the sea. Wheat which lies on the ground being returned to the plant as the blade moves across it backwards. Pieces of broken glass returning to the form of a bottle. And a few reverse love making shots too. lol.

  A unicorn walking backwards through the countryside.

  The things that can be done with simple film being played backwards. Awesome.

• The Eyes of Truth

  It begins with a scene that very much appears to resemble the Biblical story of Moses, being floated into the river in a basket by his mother.

  He floats down the stream, and is picked up by a heard of elephants. They raise the boy, and we see him as a toddler, resting on a sleeping elephant's back. He lives among the elephants, and rides them through the forest. (The Jungle Book?)

  Men come with tourches and burn the forest, chasing the elephants away.

  The boy rides an elephant high into the snowy mountains, and across the land. The sun sets and rises, signalling the passage of time.

  The boy rides his elephant into the city. He is now being hailed as a prince. A parade is held in his honor. People flock to him.

  The eyes of truth are always watching you.

  There are eyes painted into the buildings. They watch silently.

  The boy continues his journey across the country side, riding atop the elephants as the sun sets again.

• Age of Loneliness (Carly's Song)

  Here's where it truly gets trippy. And no, as far as I could tell, they didn't use any footage from the movie Sliver. This is an original video.

  New York City. The images are all in monochromatic tinted orange. People passing through crowded metropolitan areas. Cars at busy intersections. Subways. Times Square. Skyscrapers. All through New York.

  In the middle of these scenes, we see people floating in mid-air above the bustle of the city. The orange monochrome flickers to blue every few seconds. What triggers the blue flickers varies, but it is very noticable against the brownish orange. (It might even be the direct RGB inverse; not sure though.) During a trasition, a beat in the music, or something changing within the scene, always blue flicker.

  Carly don't be sad
  Life is crazy, life is mad
  Don't be afraid
  
  Carly don't be sad
  That's your destiny
  The only chance
  Take it
  Take it in your hands
  

  My brief interpretation: Despite feeling like powerless drones in the impossibly complex system of the big city, it is still possible to experience individuality by dancing through it all, finding joy within yourself. Accept your destiny. Take it. Take it in your hands.

• Beyond the Invisible

  Breathtaking.

  A teenage girl, in color, fades into black and white. As she stares out the window of a mobile home, she is being yelled at by her father. Eventually, she can't take it anymore. She shouts back a retort, runs out of the building, and off into the forest.

  Color returns.

  Banshees line the brown trees and sing to her. Three male figures with wearing cylindcrical metal hats walk through the mythical garden. (They look like the figures outlined on the album cover of Le Roi Est Mort. Vive Le Roi)

  The banshees of the woods continue to sing to her as she approaches the center of nature's sanctuary.

  In the middle of the forest, a pair of figure skaters dance upon the ice. (BEAUTIFUL custumes, lighting, and staging.) Through a few dissolves, seasons change, costumes change, and the forest evolves.

  The banshees continue to sing. One of them, covered in mud, has a more frightening look. Scared, or trying to scare? Hard to say.

  The season changes to winter. The skaters continue to perform in the ever-more-vivid forest. A bright white enchanted winter.

  Two of the metal hat guys take positions as guards at an imaginary gate, while the third leads the girl onto the frozen pond. As they walk into the forbidden nature, she and her escort gradually disappear. Then, the two guards also disapper. The sparkling forst is left empty.

  End of video. I love it. I don't know why. I just do.

• T.N.T. for the Brain

  Here, we get into some S&M suggestion.

  A man peeking through peepholes of doors, where he sees some heightened images, many of which could be taken right out of a Bondage and Domination fantasy handbook.

  Are these doors that should be opened?

  T.N.T. for the Brain.

• Gravity of Love

  Now, we're into the forth Enigma album. Turn up the heat.

  A girl, dressed in what I guess might be victorian style attire, enters a building where a masquerade ball is taking place. People are dancing.

  Already, we're getting instant flashes of thinly veiled eroticism. Hard to describe. Quick brief flashes of lesbian kisses. The clothes on the dancers briefly disappear and reappear seamlessly. People wearing masks. Could we be getting back to a de Sade fantasy?

  The girl closes her eyes, drifting through the building. She finds her way up the stairs.

  Orgies are happening in the bedroom. Men making love to women. Women making love to women. Boys making love to whomever they please.

  Suddenly, the sky opens through the roof above them! A bright light shines down from what could easily be interpreted as heaven. They look up at the light, and continue in their orgies.

  The path of excess leads to the tower of wisdom.

  We see a woman on her knees, wearing nothing but underwear, being blessed by a priest. The camera briefly focuses on the cloth crucifix on the priests sleeve. The priest might even be a woman. Can't tell for sure.

  The skies of heaven open again, and the girl looks up.

  The sexual imagery becomes more bizarre and contorted. Legs dangling out of a wall. The body of a woman literally being cut with silverware and devoured by people seated at on a long dining table. (That shot only lasts 2 seconds at most.)

  The window to heaven closes. People are running out of the mansion. ... Things flicker. The body in the fountain disappears.

  Pan up to the night sky. The light, still shining down, closes, and the sky is dark with stars again.

  An amazing video. Again, I'm at a loss to try to interpret.

• Push the Limits.

  This one is just cool. I think I get it, for the most part. The battle of the sexes.

  It opens to a shot of two video arcade consoles, out in the middle of the country. They stand, opposing one another, a boy playing at one, a girl at the other. Coins are inserted, and the game begins.

  Enter the arena. Sword fighters, wearing full armor and masks. They are fencing. Intercut this with a bedroom scene, where two lovers with bags and masks over their faces are about to fuck each other's brains out.

  The battle continues. Very well edited.

  This time, I won't spoil it by saying who wins or loses. But I will say the ending is cool. :)

An amazing set of videos from the Enigma machine. I might even go so far as to say this is the best compilation of music videos I've ever seen released in the DVD medium. Yeah, it's Holy Music. Real "Holy".

As an added footnote, the audio is all uncompressed PCM. Yea!

I think I've spend about enough time reviewing, interpreting, and attempting to summarize these videos. I said this was going to be the "non-tripped-out" version of the review. But in that regard, I may have failed, because some of those videos are so wacky, I can't help but sound like I'm tripping when I try to describe them.

Oh well. So be it. That's the music. Eat it up.