Starring: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Gael Garcia Bernal, Koji Yakusho, Mahima Chaudhry
Directed by: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
RS: 4of 4 Stars Average User Rating: 3.5of 4 Stars
2006 Paramount Classics All Movies
The Bible says God was angry when man tried to reach heaven by building a tower (later named Babel); he stopped the work by devising different languages that made understanding impossible. Babel came to mean noise and miscommunication.
Some things never change. The gifted Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and his remarkable screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga - this film completes the brilliant trilogy they began with Amores Perros and 21 Grams - have applied the concept of Babel to the way we live now, in a world threatened by terrorism and divided by language, race, money and religion. Heavy going? Not if you want to see something extraordinary. In the year's richest, most complex and ultimately most heartbreaking film, Inarritu invites us to get past the babble of modern civilization and start listening to each other.
His film throws us into the lives of broken families from Morocco to Tokyo, from posh San Diego to the poverty across the Mexican border. The jangle of dialects assaults our ears. Sign language is introduced. Time frames are splintered to add to the disorientation. But pay attention and these parallel lines do meet.
The actors work wonders in guiding us through the maze. Brad Pitt's Richard and Cate Blanchett's Susan are a San Diego couple on a healing trip to Morocco after their baby's death. Their two older kids are home with the maid, Amelia (Adriana Barraza), who defies Richard and the law by letting her firebrand nephew (Gael Garc’a Bernal) drive her and the kids into Mexico for a wedding.
The pivotal event occurs when Susan, on a tour bus with Richard, is shot in the shoulder. The bullet comes from a hunting rifle that a goat herder gave to his sons, one of whom fires wildly at the bus from a hillside. But with Susan bleeding and near death in a remote village and Richard phoning his rage to the U.S. embassy, the shooting is media-hyped into a terrorist incident. The impact stretches to Tokyo, where a father (Koji Yakusho) coping with the suicide of his wife and the promiscuity of his deaf-mute daughter, Chieko (Rinko Kikuchi), finds himself connected to the gun that shot Susan.
There is no way for a review to encompass the beautifully integrated, soul-searching portrait that Inarritu paints of a world in crisis. Pitt, raw and emotionally bruised, gives his most mature and moving performance to date. Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto brings a poet's eye to the images. Stranded at the Mexican border, a victim of Bush immigration policy, Barraza leaves you shattered. At an ear-busting Tokyo disco, the sound goes dead so we hear only what Chieko hears. Kikuchi is unforgettable, nailing every nuance in her role. Just try to erase the sight of her, standing naked and vulnerable on a high-rise balcony while an uncaring city bustles below. All of Babel is like this – it's impossible to shake.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 4:01 am Posts: 19477 Location: Brooklyn NY
Looking forward to this one. 21 Grams and Amorres Perros were excellent, even if Innaritu is only repeating formulas. If they work, use 'em.
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LittleWing sometime in July 2007 wrote:
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Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 11:09 pm Posts: 24847 Location: this stark raving, sick, sad little world Gender: Male
yeah i saw it this past weekend. i enjoyed it. i didn't really understand the point behind the japanese storyline. it didnt' really fit into the other parts except for the thing with the gun.
it took me a few minutes to realize that the scenes were happening out of order.
yeah i saw it this past weekend. i enjoyed it. i didn't really understand the point behind the japanese storyline. it didnt' really fit into the other parts except for the thing with the gun.
it took me a few minutes to realize that the scenes were happening out of order.
I guess the Japanese storyline fit in with the main theme of difficulties communicating, perhaps better even than than the others. I thought it was amazing how seamlessly the movie jumped back and forth between completely different cultures. I think this will probably get at least Best Directory and Cinematography noms at the Oscars this year.
What a dumb movie. The Jap story really had nothing to do with anything. There is nothing we gained at the end of the film. I basically watched four different stories evolve into nothing. Why the hell are you all praising it? Yes, I agree, "Children of Men" should have been nominated.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 9:50 am Posts: 1838 Location: Perth, Australia Gender: Male
I Hail Randy Moss wrote:
What a dumb movie.
_________________ a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively there's no such thing as death life is only a dream and we are the imagination of ourselves
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 9:10 am Posts: 17256 Location: Chichen to the Thing
watched this last night... While Inarratu makes really powerful, emotionally engaging films, they don't exactly warrant more than one or two viewings. I'm glad the two "stars" were pretty auxiliary to the plot(s)
_________________ I'm like, OK, God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I'm like, don't let me miss the open door
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