Baraka

Just back from seeing Baraka, luckily enough, in the cinema. What a treat!

I'd never seen it before but after seeing Samsara last year - my 3rd best film of 2012 - I couldn't miss what must be quite a rare opportunity. I found the film profound in every sense of the word but I've a few questions I'd like to ask to what seems quite a dedicated message board.

Watching Baraka I could't help but get a little distracted at the similarity to Samsara - I found a lot of the concept, ideas, imagery and even structure, were very similar to Samsara. Too similar at times, I'd say.

Now, I saw Samsara first but of course, Baraka was released in 1992 so if either of the films were to be called more original than the other, it would have to be Baraka (but then, this wasn't the first Fricke/Magidson film collaboration either)

I'm just curious to see what other people think.
Are the films too similar? Is there a limit as to how much you can do and say with this kind of film?

I've read that Samsara is a supposed sequel to Baraka but is it an official sequel and if so would I have benefited from watching Baraka first? Would they make a good double bill?

And lastly, if the similarity between these two films bothered me a bit, are other Ron Fricke/Mark Magidson films worth seeing?

Thank you.