Babel

Coincidence or is it something happens for a reason no doubt things happen they happend every minute of every second of every single day our lives we are left with not only the choice we make but we are also affected by the choice of others we don't control our clestines it's mostly left up to the idea of circumstance in others have the power to distribute the outcome of any situation our we control us we think we have control it's up to you right that's what I've always been told i think that's a pleasant thought and I'd like to believe it but somehow I just can't buy it there's way too much happening Somewhere right now some one complets strange may getting ready to decide the fate of my very existence frightening maybe but do you really want to be in absolute control do you think you are absolute that's what frightening that you think you are you think it's really up to you but it's not remember we're all in this together whether you like it or not we're all making decisions for eac

source: Babel

source: Babel

This is a film that is in part about how we fail to communicate and how we fail to understand not only with people in other cultures but also with people just around the block. This is the story of one family and how miscommunication and a lack of understanding spirals out into tragedy. Told in a disjointed manner that alters the time frame we have four stories: A family in Morocco who get a gun to protect the sheep they herd, A couple on vacation in the same country which has its vacation shattered by a shooting, the children of the couple who take a trip with their housekeeper to Mexico, and a seemingly unconnected story of a Japanese father and daughter. Thats what happens in simplistic terms. What happens on the screen is an often rending tale of how life connects us all in weird ways that we can't always explain. Its a beautiful movie to look at and is magnificently acted. Unfortunately this viewer was bored silly by it. Pretentious to the point of silliness this is a movie that is going to spell out its premise over and over again. Yes, we can't communicate (and if it isn't clear one of the characters is deaf), yes we are all connected, yes this will lead to tragedy. Thank you for pointing it out for us, but did you have to do it for almost two and a half hours? Don't get me wrong there is a good story in this movie, but the way the director has chosen to tell it, out of order with the grafting on of the Japanese portion of the film, it all becomes lost. Its an attempt to add some emotional and intellectual weight to a story that doesn't need it. I walked out of the the film admiring it and what it was trying to do, but not liking it much at all. Wait for video or cable

First - I gave this movie 3 stars because it deserves at least a little bit of credit for some wonderful contrasting visual images. A Mexican wedding, the stark Moroccan desert and the vibrancy of Tokyo all juxtapose very well and keep the audience awake despite a painfully slow, direction-less and absurdly simplistic storyline. I have read some of the other reviews on this page describing this film as "powerful" and "important" which are usually good warning signs that it's generally uninteresting, long, pretentious and unclear as to it's message (if it even has one). I honestly think this movie was even more pretentious, simplistic and boring than "The English Patient", another "important" and "powerful" movie. lol. I had a really great English prof who once said to me: When writing an essay or telling a story, a simple straightforward statement is usually much more effective than flowery BS. In the case of this movie, I would argue the basic statements here are: 1. "It's tough being a deaf-mute teenager in Tokyo." 2. "Don't give weapons as gifts to Moroccan desert dwellers." 3. "Even though it's tough to take care of your shot wife in rural second world Africa where nobody speaks your language, some people might actually help you." 4. "If you're an illegal immigrant nanny in San Diego, don't take the boss's kids across into Mexico then try to cross back into the USA with your drunk nephew driving." Anyone who has traveled even a little bit will look at this film as a gratuitous attempt to illustrate the vast "diffrences between cultures". But the film falls short - I wasn't impressed or enthralled to see the "shock" in the face of the young white kids when discovering that rural Mexicans behead chickens - it wasn't a major revelation in this viewers world. Nor was I impressed that the young Moroccan kid masturbates while picturing his naked sister because he has no other sexual outlet in his desolate life. Nor was it a major coup to reveal that teenage girls sometimes wear no panties or other stunts to gain the attention of teenage boys. These and similar other scenes were neither shocking, intriguing, interesting or even unusual. Besides the basic human desire to see the tourist wife live, the Japanese girl not kill herself and the Mexican woman make it home safely, I otherwise left the theater wondering: "why do I care about any of what I just saw?" If the answer lies in some mystic exploration of a global, local or intimate communication void, I missed it. Deaf-Mutes teen girls have trouble communicating? No kidding. American Tourists in Moroccan desert-towns can't get an ambulance, let alone a cab? ahhh - yea I kinda figured. Drunk Mexicans can't sweet talk US border guards? ahhh - thanks for that.

The film opens in the Moroccan desert: an elderly tribesman trades a high-powered rifle to a goat herder for 500 diram & a goat. He hands the rifle to his two young sons and tells them to kill jackals with it, to protect the herd. As practice, the start shooting at rocks, a car passing on the hill below, and finally a bus. That's the only thing they manage to hit, putting a bullet through the shoulder of a tourist. In the middle of nowhere, there's no medical help, and no one wants to wait with the injured person except her husband. That's the setup of this complex, challenging film. It splits into four related stories, one in Japan, two in Morocco, and the last in California, where a housekeeper has to get to her son's wedding in Mexico, but has no one to watch the two children in her care. She decides to take them along, and of course things go sour. A good cast, great acting, fine cinematography, and expert direction make this film well worth watching. It's not for everyone, but for people who are ready to see deliberately paced low-key thriller, this is one good film. The split story line is reminiscent of "Syriana," but in no way copies it.

Just saw the movie at the Rio Film Festival. Crash-like or not, the film is not the first to tell a story of intertwined events, nor will it be the last. Discussions about screenplay similarity are irrelevant. What should be considered is the story being told by the very competent director, Alejandro González Iñárritu. It is a tale of different lives and the choices people make. Choices made in extreme situations and how their repercussions are interpreted and dealt with around the globe. It is also about how misconceptions and stereotypifications are unfair and misleading. The movie will not please some, but at least it brings light to a debate on human relations and cultural identities that is much needed in the world today.

I loved "Amores Perros" It was revolutionary in so many ways and smelled like the real thing even if I couldn't quite put my finger as to what the real thing really was. "21 Grams" had gigantic intentions and superb performances but didn't feel quite revolutionary because we had kind of seen it before - and better - in "Amores Perros". Now "Babel" and, my goodness, the first thing that comes to mind is, what an extraordinary filmmaker Inarritu really is. I suspect that his universe, even if it feels infinite, it is framed - beautifully so - between the walls of biblical references. His methods may be way ahead of the times but the roots are as ancestral as fire itself. I'm not sure where I want to go with all this but the question is, Inarritu is taking me places and that's what I long for in a filmmaker. He's not taking any of us for granted and I'm very grateful for that. His movies are experiences and I for one can't wait for the next one.

"Babel" represents director Alejanrdo Gonzalez Iñárritu's conclusion to a trilogy that begins with "Amores Perros" and continues with "21 Grams". That being said, if you have seen either of those films and did not like them, it is probably fair to assume that you will not like "Babel" either. Thematically and stylistically, this film continues in the same direction, but increases in scope, illustrating that one incident can trigger a devastating series of events all around the globe. Like "21 Grams", "Babel" is constructed as a puzzle, with different pieces transpiring during different times and in different places. Many viewers will no doubt see similarities to Paul Haggis' "Crash" which explores similar issues; however Iñárritu's piece places more emphasis on human emotion and requires the viewer to be much more participative in the interpretation of themes and ideas. The film is set into motion when the young sons of a Moroccan goat herder get careless with a new rifle and accidentally shoot an American tourist (Cate Blanchett) traveling with her husband (Brad Pitt). This one act sets off a series of tragedies with global implications. American officials interpret this as an act of terrorism and of course the media reflects this accordingly. There is a story of the couple's undocumented nanny who juggles taking care of their kids while attending her own son's wedding in Mexico. In my favorite story, a deaf Japanese girl (Rinko Kikuchi) struggles with her mother's recent suicide and a father who is emotionally distant. This story doesn't reveal its connection to the others until late in the film, but it is undoubtedly the most poignant. At its core, "Babel" is about the difficulty of human communication and even though stories unfold in four different countries and in five languages (English, Arabic, Spanish, Japanese, and Sign); language is far from the principal obstacle. This film is more concerned with cultural assumptions and biases that tend to obscure reality and how our perceived differences keep us from connecting to each other. There are many reasons to recommend "Babel", but most of all because of its astounding ability to cope with issues of global importance while also presenting characters whose individual struggles are no less compelling.

I admire Gonzalez Inarritu's balls and his talent of course. He opens himself up for a barrage of criticism and ridicule but at the end his genius wins. I saw the film months ago and I still think about it. I haven't seen it again because the recollection is so powerful and I don't want to mess it up by seeing it again intentionally. The Mexican woman with the white kids in the desert has become part of my nightmares. What an enormous thing for a movie to accomplish. I'm giving it a 10 and not because I "like" the film so much but because I saw myself coming to the conclusion that the film is a masterpiece all on my own. It inspires respect. Christ! I can't believe I'm saying that but I am and I'm meaning every word. In a way it reminds me of Bunuel's "Viridiana" a film that I hated so much it has become one of the most important films of my life. Go figure. To be disturbed. I mean deeply disturbed is a strange experience and I suspect that it has to do with being confronted by the truth.