Swirling leaves fall to the ground and alternate with a large swarm of birds that fills the sky and moves in wavy patterns.

[7] The media historian Erik Barnouw stressed how Panta Rhei consists of elements of nature that rhythmically dissolve into each other, which he said reveals "a surpriseing identity" between them.

[4] According to Barnouw, the film shows how Haanstra from the start of his career assumed the role of "the perspective observer, coaxing the viewer into sharing his vision".

[4] The film historian Peter Cowie writes that despite its title, Panta Rhei does not have any of the gloom associated with Heraclitus, but engages in "extolling nature" and "showing the sensuous undercurrent of life itself".

[8] Hans Schoots writes in his doctoral dissertation that Panta Rhei is similar to Mirror of Holland in its form, motifs and alternating tempo, and it features the same effect of sunlight through a forest as Haanstra's first short film, The Muider Group Revived (1948).

Schoots says the editing and frequent use of "image rhyme" in Panta Rhei suggest that the different elements of nature form one whole, which is in constant motion and framed in the film by the "primeval fire" of the rising and setting sun.

[2] In an essay about the film, the media studies scholar Anke Steinborn writes that it on its basic level reproduces nature's rhythms.

[3] The musicologist Emile Wennekes says Vredenburg's music score strengthens the visual impressions, creating an "unpretentious and organic unity" of images and sound.