Product Description: Tragedy strikes a couple vacationing in Morocco which sets off a chain of events linking four groups of people vastly separated by culture and distance. Genre: Feature Film-Drama Rating: R Release Date: 31-JUL-2007 Media Type: DVD
Amazon.com: Brilliantly conceived, superbly directed, and beautifully acted, Babel is inarguably one of the best films of 2006. Director Alejandro González Iñárritu and his co-writer, Guillermo Arriaga (the two also collaborated on Amores Perros and 21 Grams) weave together the disparate strands of their story into a finely hewn fabric by focusing on what appear to be several equally incongruent characters: an American (Brad Pitt) touring Morocco with his wife (Cate Blanchett) become the focus of an international incident also involving a hardscrabble Moroccan farmer (Mustapha Rachidi) struggling to keep his two young sons in line and his family together. A San Diego nanny (Adriana Barraza), her employers absent, makes the disastrous decision to take their kids with her to a wedding in Mexico. And a deaf-mute Japanese teen (the extraordinary Rinko Kikuchi) deals with a relationship with her father (Koji Yakusho) and the world in general that's been upended by the death of her mother. It is perhaps not surprising, or particularly original, that a gun is the device that ties these people together. Yet Babel isn't merely about violence and its tragic consequences. It's about communication, and especially the lack of it--both intercultural, raising issues like terrorism and immigration, and intracultural, as basic as husbands talking to their wives and parents understanding their children. Iñárritu's command of his medium, sound and visual alike, is extraordinary; the camera work is by turns kinetic and restrained, the music always well matched to the scenes, the editing deft but not confusing, and the film (which clocks in at a lengthy 143 minutes) is filled with indelible moments. Many of those moments are also pretty stark and grim, and no will claim that all of this leads to a "happy" ending, but there is a sense of reconciliation, perhaps even resolution. "If You Want to be Understood... Listen," goes the tagline. And if you want a movie that will leave you thinking, Babel is it. --Sam Graham
Beyond Babel
Other Interweaving Storylines on DVD
Other DVDs by Director Alejandro González Iñárritu
Unpleasant and Great Movie Wow. This movie is rough. I mean it's difficult to watch, there's so much misery on the screen. It's well acted, and the scenery and music are beautiful. If you are tired of movies with shallow characters and pat endings, this one's for you. If you are looking to enjoy yourself or even smile at all, rent something else. I just watched it, and I have this awful feeling, like my dog just died or something. It really got to me, and I give it all the credit in the world for how it was able to do so. But dang, it's just miserable from start to finish.
Three interesting stories combined into on so so film Babel is really three unrelated films that have been combined by the slimmest of threads into one film. There is the old saying that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Unfortunately, this film parts is greater than the whole. Each story is interesting but when combined together they lose their individual punch.
The main story is about a boy who does something very stupid that sets up a series of events that changes everyone's life. In a middle eastern country a shepard buys a hunting rifle to protect his flock from jackals. He sends his two boys to tend the flock. He gives the rifle to the oldest son. After the missing a jackal, the boys blame the rifle. The gun was suppose to have a range of about 2 miles. The boys take the rifle to a ridge. The older boy aims at a passing car that is at the bottom of the ridge (I assume that it's about a mile away.) and misses it. The younger boy takes the rifle and shoots at a passing bus. It appears that he also missed but then the bus suddenly stops. The boys are overjoyed that they hit the bus. But soon that joy is overshadowed by the fact that it turns out that an American tourist has been shot.
This storyline spirals out of control on two fronts. The local government reacting to the finding the shooter and the treating of the wounded woman. The first part is more interesting than the second. Although, Brad Pitts performance as the shooting victim's husband is brilliant and Oscar worthy (but as a Supporting Actor, as this film really has no leads.)
If developed further, this would have made a fine film on it's own.
The second story involves a Mexican housekeeper trying to attend her son's wedding in Mexico. But the problem her employers are out of town and she is responsible for the two children. When she can not get anyone to take care of the children, she takes them with her. The problem occurs when they try to return to the US. This story is connected to the main story by the children belonging to the woman who was shot. But there are too many problems with this storyline to enumerate.
The third story is about a deaf Japanese girl whose mother commited suicide and she is having trouble coping with life. So she decides to act out sexually. First "flashing" some boys at a restaurant and finally trying to seduce a police detective. This story is very flimsily tied to the main by the rifle used to shoot the tourist was owned by the girl's father.
The film takes place over five days and this also created a credibility issue with the first two stories. This is a film that wants to tackle too many issues on how the establishment oppresses poor. But when you look at the main conflicts, the characters did very irresposible deeds that lead to their demise.
The only reason to see this film is Brad Pitt's "Best Film Performance." It really is.
Saw it at the movies, had to buy the DVD Most movies need only one viewing, even the fairly good ones. This is an exception, since it is an intricate mixture of stories. Since I want others to see it, now it can be lent out, and we can discuss it afterwards. Babel is an important film.
Depressing This is without a doubt the most depressing movie I have ever seen. The main theme of this movie? Tragedy, Despair, Hopelessness. Movies nowadays come out with no theme and no general message, just a bunch of high priced actors doing what they do best with average dialogue in unique settings. However, an audience of humans, yes humans, takes what they see on the big screen and try to make sense of it. Our natural ability as humans is to try and make things better for ourselves and for our families. We look for positivity in every day life and sometimes come to the movies to escape every day reality and to dream and to look for hope and for overall solace. Well, you won't find that here with Babel. While the acting for the roles is quite superb, case in point the scenes in Japan by the Japanese actors, the overall story is the most depressing I've ever seen on big screen. If it wasn't for the Japan scenes, this movie would've been a big failure to me. Go figure, I honestly thought the best performance was done by the deaf-mute Japanese girl. The only thing that saved it was the fact that at the end of Babel's story, there was hope between the Japanese girl and her father. But what about mom and dad in Morocco? What about the kids? What about the Mexican nanny? The rest of Babel's 4 stories are just a mess of tragedy and despair. Unless you're a viewer with similar experiences, it is a comforting thought that you are not alone, but I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone with a general overall positive outlook on life that seeks redemption after every imaginable struggle.
Pretty well done, but could've been better
Then there's Babel. Honestly, when I first saw the trailer, I thought it was gonna be some cool Bible movie about the tower, but then it wasn't. It's a cool concept I've seen done before, and it sort of reminded me of Traffic without the annoying filters and Catherine Zeta Jones play acting. The film intersects three very different places as far from Morocco to Mexico to Japan and the USA. Brad Pitt plays a man whose made some terrible mistake that is never explained and his wife is Cate Blanchett (who I've really liked in certain films and hated in others). She is shot in a horrible random situation that the American gov't way to quickly deams a terrorist action (which it is not) by a gun sold to a man from a hunting guide who received it from a Japanese business man on vacation whose daughter is a deaf-mute who is seeking some affection from anyone by trying to give up her virginity to anyone and everyone. Pitt's children are being watched by the family's illegal Mexican nanny who wants to go to her son's wedding in Mexico. She can't find a sitter and sneaks the two very white, blond haired children into Mexico. Sounds confusing? It isn't until Pitt's side of a conversation towards the end is the same as a conversation from the other end at the very beginning of the film.
Ever see those films that make you really really hope everything turns out ok? This falls into that category, but I honestly feared it wouldn't. I thought people would die. They didn't. Some people will be pissed when the nanny is eventually deported. Her comments that she's made a good life for herself in the US during the past 16 years, and the INS officer's heartless response was that she should've thought about that before she came illegally, gave rise to current Southwestern political issues. (No, she doesn't get to stay. Oh well.) Some would ask why Blanchett (who can sometimes be awesome) wasn't nominated (remember when she won for The Aviator? Brilliant), and my response was, why give some chick an Oscar for spending the whole movie writhing in pain and almost dying. The wrinkles around Pitt's eyes bothered me. I don't know if it was makeup or all the sun he gets in third world countries with Angelina. So let's not be too cynical here. Rinko Kikuchi who plays the Japanese deaf-mute was nominated deservingly so. But I think that her nomination is her reward. My God, the girl doesn't talk and is naked in the film. (This isn't the porn awards.) Barraza, who plays the nanny, probably did the best acting in the film especially as she hobbled across the desert in her groom-mother gown trying to save Pitt's kids. (One of whom I must add was played by Elle Fanning, Dakota's little sister who doesn't say a whole heck of a lot in this film, but does look like a younger, littler version of her talented bigger sister.)
This film is one of the most nominated with seven nods this year (I do NOT count Dreamgirls since the damn thing was nominated three times in the same category!). I can't say if they will take Best Supporting Actress, but I sure hope they best lose director (come on, give Scorsese his due!) Should it be the Best Picture? Maybe. It's up against The Queen (you know my opinion of that one), United 93 (just because it's about 9/11 and Oliver Stone didn't make it), a artsy Little Miss Sunshine, Letters from Iwo Jima, and The Departed, which is its biggest contender. The film editing was brilliant (I didn't see Blood Diamond yet, so no comparison comments here) and the Score was wonderful. It definitely had The Queen beat on this one, but my problem with that was sometimes it was almost too loud, too over the top, and too annoying. Although the scenes when we hear (or don't hear) the film from Chieko's (Kikuchi) point of view are done very well! Ok, more later, my movie going maniacs.
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