Luke
stu-kicks
CibbuanoBabel
January 26th 2007 10:14
'Babel' is the latest film from acclaimed Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu, who previously directed '21 Grams' and 'Amores Perres'. Like these previous films, 'Babel' is a fractured story of interconnected characters... a film that challenges linear story-telling and Hollywood-styled structuring of narrative. 'Babel' also represents a breakthrough for the director, it is nominated for no less than 7 Academy Awards and it pretty much consolidates his acceptance as a major international filmmaking talent.
'Babel' tells it's stories against three seperate backdrops. The first, and central, setting is Morocco. Richard (Brad Pitt, looking old) and Susan (Cate Blanchett) appear as a troubled couple apparently holidaying in Morocco, a terrible accident befalls them and they become 'victims of terror'. The fact that the 'accident' in question actually isn't an act of terrorism at all seems to be irrelevant, the rest of the world deems it as such and hence the situation worsens as a result. To one side of this story, we have another story. Amelia (Adriana Barraza - Oscar nominated for Best Supporting Actress) is the nanny of Richard and Susan's children... the circumstances that befall the parents lead to Amelia having to take their children over the border into Mexico so that she can attend her son's wedding. Suffice to say, this little day-trip spirals out of control spectacularly. On the other side of the story, we have the tale of Chieko (Rinko Kikuchi - also Oscar nominated for Best Supporting Actress) - a deaf-mute Japanese teenager who is desperate to connect with someone, anyone, after the suicide of her mother.
I gotta say this straight up, I wasn't terribly impressed with 'Babel'. I know it isn't really the point, but the links between these three stories are (on a superficial level) rather tenuous at best and the way they layer over one another another is unneccessarily complex and seemingly disparate. I had a lot of trouble caring about Susan and Richard, we do not get to see the basis of their troubles and I struggled to see the point of it all... do they represent America's fate in a world of communication difficulties? The story of the Moroccan family responsible for the 'terrorist act' was infinitely more interesting to me, likewise the story of Chieko, which was probably the best part of the film. The Mexican segments of the story didn't really do much for me.
I hate to sound ignorant, but I assume this film was about communication (hence the title, 'Babel'). I don't think I really got it... the themes of isolation and people misunderstanding each other didn't really seem all that prominent to me. I mean, I picked up on themes of responsibility and the idea of all our problems stemming from a lack of communication... but did I miss something? I was hoping for some kind of resolution or moment of epiphany that would tie the whole film together. I know it's more realistic for this not to happen, but man, it's a movie - gimme something! I guess it all just fell flat for me. Maybe I'm too western to understand it properly.
Pitt and Blanchett do what they can with ultimately shallow roles, and Barraza is solid as conflicted nanny. Kikuchi would have to be the real standout of the film though, she manages to lend more depth to her character than the rest of the cast despite the fact that she doesn't even utter a single word throughout the whole movie. Her story is the most interesting and effectively-directed too, I think I would've preferred it if the film was all about her... maybe my issues with this movie stem from the director spreading his attention too thin over too many characters and subtplots?
Damn, I hate the fact that I didn't really like this film. The cinematography, direction and atmosphere of it are great and it felt like it should've been great. I really enjoyed the director's other two films too, I guess the the emphasis here on theme over plot was just one step too far removed from what I need in a film for satisfaction. I hope this doesn't win the Best Film Oscar. Oh, and while I'm talking about the Oscars - what's with everyone saying that this film is 'this year's Crash'? It's nothing like 'Crash', the similarities between these films negligible.
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Comment by anonymous
Comment by Luke
Old Movies
Cane Toad Warrior
Now I don't feel anywhere near as bad about not liking it.
The article on that website about how Babel got nominated mentioned an interesting preview. I never saw any preview, but from the description - the preview sounds like it has more meaning than the film!
Comment by BlackWarrior
as far as this being called Crash of 2006...I think what people mean is the similarity between the films in the sense that both of them have 4-5 sub plots that form the main story!!
Comment by Luke
Old Movies
Cane Toad Warrior
As for the theme of 'if you want to be understood, listen', was this in the promotional materials or something? I might've watched it looking for this message had I known in advance that that was what I should've been looking for, but a film shouldn't expect me to guess it's themes like that or know it intimately before I've seen it.
It's not a shit movie, I just didn't really dig it.
Comment by BlackWarrior
as for the theme..yeah that was in the promos!!
anyways..I love reading your reviews..so looking forward to your next one!!
Comment by Luke
Old Movies
Cane Toad Warrior