Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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103 of 133 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Maybe Not The Significant Document Of Our Time It Hopes To Be--But Riveting Drama Nonetheless, December 9, 2006
"Babel" is the latest narratively and chronologically twisted epic from director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. This is getting to be a specialty of his. He weaves different plots and characters together in unlikely ways hoping to surprise and enhance the dramatic affect of his storytelling. It brought him wide acclaim for his breakthrough "Amores Perros" a funny and thrilling ride for man and dog! The device was a bit more unnecessary in "21 Grams"--but that smaller film ended up being my choice for the best acted film of its year. But now he takes his skill and technical prowess to his biggest canvas yet.
"Babel" is set in Morocco, Mexico, Japan and the United States. We follow the interlocking stories of a Moroccan farming family, a couple of American tourists, a disaffected and deaf/mute Japanese schoolgirl, and a Mexican maid and her two American charges. One bullet brings all the stories together. As one of the tourists, Cate Blanchett, is accidentally shot--the repercussions are felt around the world.
This is an ambitious picture, and I do believe the narrative framing and structure enhance the overall experience. From a technical standpoint, there is not much more you could ask for--this is an awesome achievement. From editing, score, screenplay, cinematography and art direction--"Babel" is propelled to the short list of great studio films this year. The acting is uniformly excellent. Brad Pitt as Blanchett's husband and Rinku Kikuchi as the Japanese girl have been singled out repeatedly (and are likely Oscar contenders), but everyone here is in top form. This is heavy drama, and I can understand why that scares some people away--but the payoff is worth it. It is harrowing and unpleasant at times, but riveting and emotional throughout.
"Babel" is clearly a film made with serious intentions--and I'm not entirely sure it's as successful as it hopes to be. The philosophical implications, the biblical allegory, the effort to document the state of the world, the examination of a disaffected society, the randomness of the universal ties that bind, and the commentary at the lack of communication and understanding in the world--it's all here! There are certainly individual moments within "Babel" that will strike a chord, and it's definitely an intelligently made film, I just don't necessarily think that it is as "significant" as some make it out to be. I admire that it tries to deliver a social commentary without being "preachy"--but it moves perilously close at several times (times where 2 seconds of rational thought and explanation could have resolved something--but people were more villainous than understanding). Ultimately, though, I must embrace "Babel" as great adult filmmaking and powerful drama. About 4 1/2 stars from me--I'm rounding up for the sheer scope and ambition present. KGHarris, 12/06.
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28 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Babble, April 25, 2007
I rarely write negative reviews on here but this film was like a train wreck. 'Babel' is yet another incarnation of the whole tried and true "east meets west," "we're all really the same," international thriller imbued with social commentary genre. Now I don't really have a problem with this per se, but it seems like these days people are so desperate for this type of film that they accept almost anything that is put out there. From the previews, 'Babel' reminded me a lot of 'Syriana" which I thouroughly enjoyed. But ultimately, although I think 'Babel' had a lot of potential, it's convoluted story line and weak dialogue ruined it for me.
There were several scenes that I found to be absolutely pointless and the film could have easily cut thirty minutes out of it's lengthy 140 minutes without a negative effect. It probably would have actually improved the flow of the film. I did find the stories of the deaf Japanese girl and the two little Morroccan kids to be very touching but even in some parts of that I found myself asking out loud, "what the hell is going on?" There were way too many instances of the viewer left waiting for the other shoe to drop and it never drops. And the part with the Mexican nanny who brings the kids to Mexico just plain irritated me. Now I'm sure some people will say that this is just nuance and I just didn't "get it." Yes, I get the part that the stories were all connected, yada, yada, yada, but I just felt like I was left hanging on too many aspects. For instance, why did the Japanese girl tell the cop that her mother jumped from the balcony? What did her note to the cop say? What happened to the two kids? Just little things like this where the viewer is left in the dark irritated me.
That being said, the film was not a total loss. Besides for a few momentary "flashes of brilliance," the acting was good and the cinematography was also exceptional. But ultimately the story was just way too disjointed and unfulfilling and at the end I was left feeling empty and frustrated.
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81 of 109 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Butterfly Wings, November 14, 2006
Chapter 11 of Genesis tells a story of mankind's attempt to reach heaven by building a tower, not as a way to glorify God but as a way for mankind to glorify themselves by putting them on God's level. God strikes the plan down by confusing/creating different languages so that the builders cannot understand each other thereby suspending communication. Director Alejandro González Iñárritu, along with his screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga's take on this material is "Babel" their third and most ambitiously produced film with locales in Morocco, Japan, San Diego and Mexico and like the Bible story, Iñárritu is once again dealing with communication or lack thereof: how we talk and either no one listens or more to the point...doesn't understand. Simple themes told exceedingly well here.
In the best sequence, shot in Japan a deaf mute girl, Chieko (Rinko Cucuchi), desperate for attention and contact other than she can get from her pals, tells (actually signs) to her father (a sad sack Koji Yakusho from "Shall We Dance?"): "You Never Listen to Me!" Ironic on at least a couple of levels. Chieko is reeling from the normal drama of being a teen as well as the not so normal drama of having found her Mother dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. She is also dealing with a father who is also devastated and unable to comfort himself much less his daughter. They live in a glacial glass high-rise box in Tokyo: a symbol of the icy coldness of the lives that they live within.
The two other parts of the film deal with the stars (a very good Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett) in Morocco on vacation (!?) and a supposed terrorist attack and the third, a very real and scary sequence involving the Pitt/Blanchett children and their caretaker, Amelia (a terrific Adriana Barraza) and their harrowing journey into Baja California.
Every one of Iñárritu's films ("Amores Perros," "21 Grams" and "Babel") contain at least one gut-wrenching, emotional and transcendentally beautiful scene: the dog fight in "Amores Perros," the Naomi Watts scene with Sean Penn in which she explains how it is to lose a family in a random accident in "21 Grams" and here in Babel: Chieko at a Shinto dance club, the soundtrack stopping and starting to approximate Chieko's experience, Chieko: wide-eyed, wide-eyed, mouth agape...experiencing a world in which feeling and touching is paramount and hearing isn't.
Though Iñárritu and Arriaga stretch the "if a butterfly flutters its wings in Hawaii, etc." metaphor to the breaking point, there is no doubt that
"Babel" has got the goods where it counts: deep in the recesses of its soul and heart.
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