Customer Reviews

Babel

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Alejandro González Iñárritu and Guillermo Arriaga (who have sadly had a falling-out) may be one of the most formidable creative teams in the industry. Without resorting to cheap sentiments or preaching, Iñárritu crafts a quietly compelling follow-up to "21 Grams," with an introspective look at the interlaced lives after a tragedy.

Two boys in Morocco buy a rifle, and while testing it out, they strike a passing tourist bus. Unfortunately, the bullet strikes a vacationing American woman (Cate Blanchett), in the middle of a rural area with no real medical facilities. Unable to be transported, the woman and her husband (Brad Pitt) are dropped off in a rural village, to await help.

Unknowingly, the boys have triggered off shattering events in other people's lives across the world -- a troubled, deaf Japanese girl (Rinko Kikuchi) causes a commotion, and the police find that this neglected, lonely teen is the daughter of the man who originally had the boys' rifle. And the American couple's nanny (Adriana Barraza) is delayed going to her son's wedding, and attempts to bring the children into Mexico with her -- with disastrous results.

"Babel" is like a series of completely different photographs, but with the same person in the background. These haunting looks at how lives can be changed in an instant -- and the effects of violence, whether malicious or careless -- makes up the last volume of Iñárritu and Arriaga's "Death Trilogy." It illustrates death with the fragility of life.

But it's also about the difficulty of communicating in the modern world. You can talk to someone across the world, but sometimes never communicate -- cultures, languages, race, and disabilities can divide people, such as when the border police rush to rescue the American kids, but are callous to the kindly nanny merely because she is not a citizen.

And Iñárritu knows how to capture the right feel for the movie, even to giving it shaky, rough cinematography. There's a feeling of powerful emotion even in small scenes, such as Pitt starting to crumble as he makes a phone call. And the movie moves seamlessly from the rocky, dusty Morocco to the flashy, frenetic Tokyo to the relaxed San Diego.

Blanchett and Pitt are at the center of the movie (in that order), and both are excellent. Blanchett gives a stunning performance as the critically wounded wife, and Pitt acquits himself well as her anguished husband, as they rediscover their love under duress. Blanchett's performance should definitely garner her an Oscar next year -- and heads should roll if she isn't even nominated!

But the supporting cast is also excellent, particularly Kikuchi as the rebellious teenager, who feels isolated from the world around her, and is still grieving from her mother's tragic death. So she acts out sexually. And Barraza gives a solid performance as the nanny, in a nightmarish situation that is particularly haunting because it really happens.

It may comment on the lack of communication between cultures and people, but "Babel" is so compelling in its acting and visuals that it could easily have been a silent film. A brilliant, thought-provoking movie, and one that deserves to be seen.

Babel (2006)
Drama, 143 minutes
Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Starring Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and Rinko Kikuchi

Nominated for seven Oscars and winning for best score, Babel is a sprawling tale of how a gun links four separate groups of people. Pitt and Blanchett are the focus of one of the stories, but the other three are probably more compelling.

The film will take you to Morocco, the US, Mexico and Japan. It deals with themes such as love, loneliness, adolescence, the law, and kindness. It amazes me how people who have almost nothing will still give you something.

The appeal of Babel for me is the way in which Inarritu weaves the complex threads together to create a believable and enthralling story. Many of the actors were unknown to me, but I wasn't disappointed with any of the performances. It's hard to watch this film and not be moved emotionally by at least one of the stories; I was moved by all four.

I looked forward to this movie as the reviews spoke of a great movie. Instead it was truly disappointing. It followed Murphy's law that if something can go wrong it does go wrong and it truly did. There was nothing harmonious in it as it jumped from Marocco, to Mexico, to Japan in a disjointed fashion with lots of jump in time as well. The director just tried to do too much and it didn't work. The acting was nothing to speak about either. Nope, you can skip this one.

Several stories set in places around the world are related only by a freak accident with a rifle: An American couple (Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchette) are on a tour bus in the Moroccan desert when the wife is shot by a some poor children who are trying out their new rifle. Back home in San Diego, the couple's housekeeper takes their children across the border into Mexico with near-tragic results, while the rifle is traced to a businessman in Japan.

The separate-but-ultimately-related-stories technique is similar to that used in the movies Crash and Traffic and used just as effectively. Each story is grim and edge-of-your-seat intense; I don't think I took a deep breath during the whole movie. All of the actors are excellent as is the location photography. We see some good, bad, and ugly in several different cultures as families deal with unexpected events.

The title relates to the Tower of Babel, where God confounded the people's language so they couldn't understand each other. Certainly, each story has frustrating moments of poor communication that become matters of life and death. Though the movie is long, the tension never lets up and I was really caught up in the drama. Highly recommended.

Babel is worth watching as the director does a great job of interweaving the three storylines. The problem is twofold--the scriptwriter seems too be far too obsessed with bodily functions and borderline child porn. What is up with the scenes involving panties or no panties. Even a tender scene (SPOILER ALERT) of Brad Pitt helping his injured wife, played by Cate Blanchett, pee turns slightly sexual the way the scene is written/shot.

Also, near as I can tell the movie wants to say the following:
1. Never give a weapon as a gift to a Moroccan.
2. Always have a doctor onboard a tour bus.
3. When taking American kids across a border, make sure your nanny is a legal alien and the driver is not drunk.
4. Dead mute teenagers in Tokyo are toasted out of their minds.

Other than that, this movie makes perfect sense. Also, having lived in Tokyo for decades it captures Tokyo life quite well but in over 20 years of living there I've yet to find an apartment building with a 24-hr. doorman let alone any doorman. This was either a very wealthy area of Tokyo that has adopted some Western-style security or it's one the movie world made up.

I'll never understand how this movie received 7 Oscars nominations and it didn't deserve the Golden Globe for Best Dramatic Film. The movie is confusing and complicated. Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett are on a holiday in Morocco when things take turn for the worse when she's shot. This movie had too many sub-plots and failed to live up to my expections. I bought into all the critical acclaim and all the praise that this movie received and it failed to deliver. The deaf-mute girl and her sexual exploits didn't belong in this movie. The plot was supposed to be centered around Cate Blanchett's character getting shot. The nanny and her partner who ran the border in Mexico to go into the United States. The two kids fooling around with gun to see how the gun would fire. This movie just didn't make the grade for me.

I think this movie would have been better with a terrorist plot. That would have made more sense than the characters on all four continents.

Babel just doesn't make the grade. It's different and not much better than Crash. Babel didn't deserve a best picture nomination. Dreamgirls or Flags of our fathers would have been a better.

Although this movie's very long

And jumps around quite madly

You'll find it's really all about

People behaving badly

Moroccan boys play with a gun

Without a passing thought

That shooting at a passing bus

Would wreak the wrath it wrought

A couple is vacationing

But not having much fun

They're fighting over everything

Since losing their young son

A girl way over in Japan

Is all torn up inside

She lost her mother and the love

Her father can't provide

A woman caring for two kids

Whose parents are away

Without permission she takes them

For a short holiday

Each group has problems of its own

And yet they intersect

One action leads up to the next

(A Butterfly Effect)

The acting's good, the plot intense

When all is said and done

If drama's what you're looking for

You'll find it in this one

Amanda Richards

With all the hype, (the Golden Globe award, the Academy nominations) I was expecting a lot more. Something along the lines of Crash stretched over several continents. Which is virtually what Babel is except the connections between the various stories are weaker; instead of racism it's about miscommunication; there are lots of foreign languages being spoken; and it just doesn't pull at your heart strings as much as Crash.

The main story is probably the American tourist (Cat Blanchett; her husband being played by Brad Pitt) who is shot while on holiday in some Arabic country, because all the threads are connected to this one. There is the couple's children back in America who are being looked after by their Mexican nanny, the two Arabic brothers who actually end up shooting the tourist, and the Japanese family who owned the gun that did the deed. The last story is the weirdest (and most original) as the Japanese daughter, who is deaf, tries to find acceptance (WARNING: sexually explicit).

It sounds like a fairly good plotline and it is. The acting is very well done on everyone's part and not just the American superstars. In fact the foreign actors do better then Brad and Blanchett in most parts, especially the Mexican nanny and her son (Che Guevara off the Motorcycle Diaries), and the Japanese girl (sorry I don't know any of their names). You'll also notice that one of the American children is played by none other than Dakota Fanning's little sister.

The theme of miscommunication is also there too. It is strongly apparent in all the stories and is the catalyst for all the tragedies that befall the characters. Due to the global nature of this movie 75% is in subtitles so if you have an allergy to reading this film is not for you.

Where this movie falls short is the drama. It just doesn't seem to pull my heart strings or make my eye's water. There are some parts (see story of the Arabic brothers) that really evoked my emotions but others just fell flat (see the American tourist getting shot). All the threads work the pathos to a certain extent but they just don't do it as well as movies like Crash or Forrest Gump. Maybe I'm just becoming desensitized.

Anyways if you liked the multiple story movies all with a central theme like Crash, Syriana, or Traffic then this movie is probably for you. Don't get me wrong this is still an awesome movie it just doesn't seem as good as all the hype surrounding it. The Departed definitely deserved it's Best Picture Award at the Oscars compared to this movie.

Babel is incredibly thought-provoking and a thoroughly gripping experience. There were several plots that are occuring simultaneously between the characters, and every one has you hanging on the edge of your seat wondering if things are going to take a turn for the better in the dire circumstances that the characters find themselves in. I found that the performances by all the actors to be absolutely stellar, and completely believable so it is easy to empathize with their situations. It isn't necessarily a complex storyline as much as it takes you on a journey into hopelessness and trauma, leaving some of the plots resolved only enough so that there is still more left to the imagination when the movie ends (I won't summarize the plots to ruin the movie for those who haven't seen it). Everyone seems to have their own take on the central theme that ties all the plots together. I would recommend you check it out for yourself.