Amazon.co.uk Review
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
Customer Reviews:
The B side of this DVD is better.......2008-03-10
I wish I could give this dross no stars.
Very possibly the worst film I have ever attempted to watch. An indulgence for the cast and crew but a punishment for this viewer. I gave up on it after about twenty minutes of boredom. How certain scenes can be described as essential to the plot or entertainment is beyond this unsophisticated non-metropolitan's imagination. Frankly disgusting and a waste of time and money.
Let's Hear It For Rinko!.......2008-02-29
I confess I'd never heard of her before but, as the deeply troubled and deaf schoolgirl Chieko, Rinko Kikuchi gives a performance of such brilliance it would be very difficult to do it justice here. I often find crying scenes in movies both manipulative and unconvincing, but Kikuchi's outpouring of grief towards the end of the film is so compelling and real, it's impossible not to be affected by the scene. Despite being too old for her role, she never hits a false note throughout the whole movie.
I've been surprised by the amount of one star reviews for Babel. It's certainly not a perfect film, but it's thought-provoking and well directed. Maybe some viewers find it pretentious and overlong, but in a climate of lame action movies and crappy romantic comedies, I found it quite refreshing.
So unbelievably dull and tedious...........2008-02-25
....I could actually feel my finger nails grow!!! If they had stuck to just one story and made the film about 45 minutes long that would have been enough. I just did not get the point to the whole Japan story....ok it's about a deaf girl trying to find her way in life but what did that have to do with the rest of the film (I use that term very loosely here).
Don't waste your time, this film is right up there with "The Good Shepherd" as entertainment to avoid.....read a book, go see a friend, even doing the dishes would be more entertaining than this drivel.
dissapointed.......2008-02-22
I like Brad Pitt and I expected something different(like the movie Sahara, kind of). All in this movie is just about a gun. You'll never believe how much is going on just because a gun. And Brad Pitt I think appears in the movie just to bring audience because without him I don't think many people will watching it.
to be understood we must first understand.......2008-02-20
A wonderful multi layered tapestry of sight, sound, emotion.The best film I have seen in years with stunning cinematography, brilliant direction acting and music. I will definitely have to get the soundtrack to complete the experience
Customer Reviews:
Babel (2 Disc Collectors Edition).......2008-01-06
'Babel' is a slow paced, slightly melancholy film that follows four different stories and the links between them. It is a lot more coherent to watch than '21 Grams' which was made by the same director and makes this more enjoyable as a result. The stories are a touch aimless at times and the endings, whilst linking up well, aren't very powerful. But I guess life is like that, you have events that have a major impact and then you keep on going, plus we are a lot more connected than we first realise. I guess that is what this film is trying to put across. The performances were excellent, especially Chieko, the japanese deaf-mute girl, where you really feel her frustrations and vulnerability and Brad Pitt who is better than I thought he'd be. The soundtrack, which is quite sparse, allowing the atmosphere of the film to permeate through, was moving when it had to be and was far enough in the background when most appropriate. The ending piece of music was especially moving and added perfectly to the final scene. This is a good film and worth a watch, it has no definite beginning, middle and end, but that in no way detracts from the various stories and their impact, although I feel that may have disappointed other reviewers here. Give it a view and decided for yourself, especially if you like the feel of '21 Grams' but not the convoluted or confusing storyline.
Don't waste your time.......2007-12-23
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.
Poor at best.......2007-09-10
In short - This film has 4 stories some of which are connected by the most tenuous of links. Any climax is ruined at the start as the storys are jumbled about in time. This is a long film that goes nowhere, gives no answers and asked no questions I cared about anyway.
[Spoilers]
All the storys are linked by a gun, that's really it. Starting with the Japenese girl who's father owned the gun, her storyline is bizzare and non related to anything else in the movie, at all. This should have been removed.
The other three threads relate more closely. Brad Pitt's storyline is ruined when at the start he announces on the phone to his maid that his wife is ok and in hospital... so why then try and build tension for the next 2 hours showing them trying to save her / get to a hospital. Who thought that was good storytelling?
The maid's story is painful to watch, one of those films where you just want to shout 'have some common sense!'. The story does not link directly with the gun and apart from 2 phone calls to Brady, does not affect any other story.
The kids who accidently shoot the bus, perhaps the most interesting storyline? Though there's not much to compete with. Why it needed to turn into a shoot out I'm not sure.
Towards the end of the movie the person sat next to me asked "do you think her dad shot her mum" (regarding the Japan storyline). My response was and still is "I don't care". Which is about the worst insult I could give a film.
Towering.......2007-07-09
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.
Admittedly, a good movie deserves a pretty good special edition, but this two-disc version really doesn't differ that much from the original theatrical release. The primary extra on this is a long "making of" featurette. It's nice, but a bit more would have been expected.
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.
Iñárritu tackles another amazing film.......2007-06-28
It is difficult to make one good film, but director Iñárritu manages to make three good short movies. I expected the stories to be connected in a strenuous manner. Instead, I was treated with an interesting and emotionally satisfying production that succeeds in making a point that the world is a very small place. Brad Pitt is barely recognizable with a beard and several wrinkles. But the imperfection of his features doesn't matter when compared with the realistic passion behind his performance as the husband to his wife, Cate Blanchett, that mistrusts him. When his wife suffers from a bullet wound, you forget all about his stardom and focus on his love. Blanchett has less of a role to play as the wounded wife, but she effortlessly conveys the layers of her relationship with her husband behind the pain and anguish of her suffering.
The two Moroccan boys who shot her are part of a separate but interlocking story about a rural family in Morocco that just purchased its first rifle. When one of the boys shoots at the bus Blancett is on, it sets off a chain reaction that sends Morocco and America into political turmoil, not to mention their family. There are no-name actors here, and they are not particularly stunning, but their story is touching. Another storyline, possibly the least memorable of the four, involves the children of Pitt and Blanchett and their Mexican nanny who takes them across the border. Gael Garcia Bernal is terribly underused in this portion of the movie, but when he is on screen he steals the show.The best and the most disturbing storyline is that of Chieko (Rinko Kikuchi), a deaf-mute Japanese girl suffering from unsatisfied sexuality. The lengths to which she goes to fulfill her desires are pitiful and moving, and her character is the most nuanced in the movie.
This film does show a global class system where Americans are treated with more respect than those from third world countries. The goat-herders are brutalized by their own police, and the Mexicans are viewed with suspicion and contempt by the U.S. border patrol. The film wants us to sympathize with the underdogs. I've enjoyed most of Iñárritu previous work and this film isn't any different. The adaptation of each segment of this film has a respective regional style. The Moroccan track looks like an Arabic drama, the Mexican scenes have a flavor that is but too familiar to Iñárritu, while the Japanese story is told in a style and filmed in colors that remind the Japanese thrillers. Nice idea. The plots twist and curl around each other to form an amazing vine, a vine with an important message.
Customer Reviews:
Don't waste your time.......2007-12-23
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.
Forget bad reviews below, this is an excellent film.......2007-12-19
Im not going to write a review due to plenty of them available through respected newspaper and tv reviewers. However, I can honestly say the two poor reviews below irritated me enough to write this.
Ignore them, if you know anything about filmaking and are wanting to watch a clever, entertaining, atmospheric, gripping and beautifully photographed film look no further.
The two bad reviewers below obviously know nothing and that fact they found it dull shows their fairly brainless and watch brainless films. Just like children who talk at the back of cinemas due to not understanding whats going on.
Go and rent Air Bud 4 in HIGH DEF and leave these films alone.
5 STAR FILMS, OUTSTANDING!
Just rubbish.......2007-08-26
A new contender for the worst movie I've seen, giving The Langolliers a close run.
Looks good on Blu-Ray, moody, atmospheric music etc. Surely a contender for some cinematography awards or something.
However one small feature missing, they completely forgot to make an entertaining film.
Very disjointed story about a couple soul searching in Morocco after ?a cot death; wife getting shot by accident; their kids getting in a scrape on a reckie to Mexico with the housekeeper; and for some reason a Japanese girl whose dad gave the rifle, used in the shooting, to his old hunting guide, who then sold it to the dad of the boys that did the shooting.
I've just watched the film and the paragraph above makes little enough sense, imagine what the film is like.
And to top it all off, an hour into a dull, dull film and you think "Only half an hour left", then discover it's a film lasting 2h 20m, but you've watched so much already you have to finish waching it - just like the Langolliers (it was 3h if I remember).
I rented it because it was one of the first Blu-Rays available for rent, and I was getting all excited about the HD experience. Avoid. What a wasted evening!
Babel - It's like it was never going to end ...........2007-05-14
The Movie is as described in the Amazon overview but so slow and boring. I guess the idea was different and obviously been blu-ray the picture was good. You spend the whole time watching the film hoping that something will happen but it never does...... If the paint on the walls has finished drying, you could watch this movie.
I must off missed the point or I guess!
In tongues.......2007-03-22
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.
Customer Reviews:
Spoon feeders go elsewhere........2008-02-03
Did someone say "...new clothes"? Listen up. (1) I accept you didn't like it (and that is what a review is all about). (2) I accept that there is an inevitability about the way each story spins out of control and, in so doing, reveals how it is linked with the other stories: the consequence is the generation of constant tension in the viewer. (3) I accept it is long. These are all legitimate aspects of a review and can be legitimately perceived as negative aspects of the film. What I do not accept is the belief by those negative reviewers that this somehow means those of us who perceived artistic merit, saw political comment and appreciated the message (all of which require you to think AND watch) are running around naked.
This film is an emotional marathon (if you are prepared to think about what is going on, rather than expecting to be spoon-fed) holding up some VERY sobering mirrors to the way the world works (or not) and the emergent properties of those machinations.
Sure - its not for everyone - but like anything subtle and intelligent you need to put in some leg-work as well.
Oh dear.......2008-01-30
I only rented this because it was out on HD and there is such a limited choce of these at the moment. Cate Blanchett sounded promising.
I agree with Richard. A deeply depressing film that drones on and on. It is only driven (at snailspace) by a sense of impending doom hanging over each of the situations. How bad will it get? Of course, this is a good narrative device but you have to care about the characters and want a happy or satisfactory outcome for them. Just sugesting ever greater peril and dragging it out slowly is not enough.
I watched the first hour then just had to stop. I came back to it the next day and watched the rest out a sense of duty before returning it. Eventually I started to skip through the obviously static bits. I have never done this with any other film, however bad! Before "Rob" rips into me let me say I watch a lot of movies of all types but usually look for a well told story, interesting situations and characters. Even the occasional Leslie Neilsen!
The film looks great and the different locations are beautifully shot. All the cast are excellent in their parts and the scenes interestingly and sometimes excitingly staged. It just goes on and on often without adding anything.
Filmakers generally know that a good test to apply is "is this scene absolutely vital to the story?". In this film many scenes go on for quarter of an hour after we got the point and are desparately wanting the story to move on. Anyway this film makes a very slender overall point about people finding themselves in difficult situations that get worse. These are resolved in ways that are not particularly interesting. Cate Blanchett's is a key role but actually has almost nothing to say.
I'd love to know how the film turned out like this. Presumably it just grew in the editing stgae when the actual story telling was found to be a bit short.
'Ordinary people will hate it' come again...........2007-12-19
Richard made a fine review.
Sadly he forgot to mention a poll of 25,000 'ordinary' people ranked on average between 8-9 out of 10.
Richard is sadly extraordinary and likes Leslie Neilson films.
Get Babel its outstanding.
Pretentious tripe.......2007-12-08
This film is a prime example of tripe masquerading as art. The whole story could have been told in 20 minutes. There are acres of scenes, such as a demented young Japanese girl's sexual frustrations, which could only be tolerated by this family by the use of the fast forward button.
Sadly, but predictably, film critics rate it. Another example of the king's new clothes I feel.
Ordinary people will hate it.
Avoid!!!!!
UK DVD:
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