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90140 |
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(59311) |
45288 |
53058 |
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44852 |
52548 |
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Plot:
Armed with a Winchester rifle, two Morrocan boys set out to look after their family's herd of goats. In the silent echoes of the desert, they decide to test the rifle… but the bullet goes farther tha...( read more 
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Recent Reviews
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MCT:August 25, 2008
Babel (2006)
So what's it about? Tragedy strikes a married couple on vacation in the Moroccan desert, touching off an interlocking story involving four different families.
My thoughts on the movie? Brilliant, Very well paced movie. Gives a great insight into different cultures and how they all deal with tragedy. Great example of good story telling and shows how everything is connected and how one event can have a knock on effect. Very good performances and great directing. Excellent addition to the trilogy.
Most memorable quote:"I killed the American, I was the only one who shot at you. They did nothing... nothing. Kill me, but save my brother, he did nothing... nothing. Save my brother... he did nothing."
Rating: 5/5
Review Date: 23 August 2008
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MCT:August 25, 2008
babel is actually quite boring, I just liked the japanese girl and cate blanchett who loked like herself for a change.
so tragic. -
MCT:August 23, 2008A powerful film if you ask me, but after all the plot collisions and whatnot, everything didn't fall in place. Some of the plots turned out to be unneeded since it failed to establish a connection with the center story (Brad and Cate's misfortunes in a Moroccan desert).
Supporting performances are awesome, but Brad and Cate's glowing heads just keep on overshining them. Get that remote ready, 'coz you'll find yourself fast forwarding the boring scenes (like the scenes in Morocco). Don't you worry, you won't miss anything for the subplots move independently. -
MCT:August 20, 2008
This film was intriguing to watch as it bounced back and forth from country to country, following the lives of many people who are connected to each other. Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett do some fine work here and the rest of the cast are excellent also. The film may be confusing for some to follow but stick with it.
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MCT:August 20, 2008
"Babel" is of course about communication, or more exactly miscommunication, in the modern world. It's a theme that has engaged the interest of many a filmmaker lately -- the idea that technology has made instant communication so much easier, yet people seem to be more than ever incapable of understanding one another. It's a conceit that greatly interests me, but Inarritu doesn't exploit its potential here. "Babel" consists of a monotonous series of scenes in which people shout, storm, fight and talk over one another, always in a hurry to be understood without taking the time to understand. Very well, point taken. But Inarritu makes this point within the film's first half hour -- you only need see one or two scenes of this kind of frustrating verbal gridlock to understand what he's trying to say; after that, the frustration just mounts without any kind of pay off. People are mean to one another, some are unbelievably callous (I didn't buy for a second that the group of tourists who accompany Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett's characters to a remote Moroccan village after Blanchett is accidentally shot would be so uncaring as Inarritu depicts them). In Inarritu's world, all authority figures are to be justifiably feared, as they go around beating everybody up and pulling guns on innocent people. There's no nuance here; Inarritu pounds his message into you. For example, he obviously feels strongly about the mistreatment of illegal immigrants, especially those from Mexico, but instead of engaging in an intelligent debate about the topic, he sets up such an implausible, not to mention one-sided, scenario in this film that you can't help but agree with him.
The biggest disappointment in "Babel" is his failure to fully utilize a couple of wonderful actors he has assembled. Cate Blanchett is utterly wasted as the caustic American wife whose shooting sets off the chain of events. And Gael Garcia Bernal likewise gets nothing to do as a hot-headed Mexican whose attempts to run from border patrol creates a sad ending for one of the major characters. Brad Pitt does better than expected with the frenzied, frustrated husband of Blanchett. But these people have no history. We know virtually nothing about anybody in the film, yet are expected to care deeply about what happens to them. Maybe that's part of Inarritu's point -- that we're all connected to one another even if we don't know it, and that the world has become so small that there are no longer such things as strangers in it. But this is a film narrative, not real life, and you can't build a compelling one out of anonymous characters. -
MCT:August 13, 2008
I'm not sure about this movie. Each of the storylines were interesting but the movie somehow doesn't work really well as a whole unlike other multi-stories movie like Pulp Fiction. My favourite storyline is the one about the deaf mute Japanese girl although that one has the loosest connection to the main plot.
Nevertheless, it is an emotionally powerful movie with great acting. -
MCT:August 10, 2008it may be artsy but it really is too slow a movie. The movie could have been half as long and you would have still had a complete story. They could even have dropped the Japanese and American storylines and only kept the African one and it would have been a more coherent story. The other storylines just drag on and are only inconsequentially related to Africa
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MCT:August 9, 2008
It is definitely not the regular type of movie, some would think is slow and boring, some others would see things that are not part of the movie, but it is anyway a movie to watch and to enjoy with an open mind. Do not expect regular story line and regular ending.
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MCT:August 7, 2008
This movie is impeccable. For all those people who think that the stories were not linked to some central theme or that it was lackluster or that the movie was lose....well I just have this advice to give to those people. Go watch Fantastic four and jack off on that.
This movie is one of the best movies ever made...the central theme to this movie is that "Pain is universal" and there's no way it could've been better depicted. This movie is stylish, the cinematography and the music score is sooo good that its scary how something can be executed so well on so many dimensions. Also, it is to be noted that the producers and the director have done such an amazing task of lining up this cast. And by this I don't mean the spectacular Mr. Pitt or Blanchett or Barnal. By this I mean more like the people who are also sooo central to this movie. That witch doctor kind of lady who gives a joint to Blanchett, Anwar the guide, the Japanese cast, the cop who tells Pitt how Americans won't allow the ambulance. WHY don't people realise how much work goes into putting together so many people who are so true to life with regards to this movie. This is just amazing.
Also for those who think that the Japanese sequence could be totally removed well to them I could suggest why not try NEVER stepping in the theaters to watch such movies and just stick to American pie or some crap like that.
The Japanese story has so many layers to it that it is crazy....what if the mother never killed herself but was shot by the daughter who is so complexed because of her existence and maybe has incestuous relations with her father....her pain is sooo much universal which so many people go through...even people who are living breathing "normal" people but who still try so hard to fit in in life. Be it high school or undergrad college....this pain is unverisal, we just don't understand it sometimes when it doesn't affect us directly or anymore. And then there's the element of giving the cop the note which leaves so many things for us to decide and think of.
Last words: this movie is a gift to the serious drama movie goers. It is just beautiful and I have been a recording musician myself...and I bow down to Gustavo Santaolalla for the score. The song Bibo no Auzora is just tooo beautifully placed at the end of the movie.
it can't any better. I could go on giving various dimensions of my interpretations to this movie but its not required. Please watch it for those who haven't and then watch it again...you'll unfurl many layers of how pain is ironic and pain is universal. Be it a Mexican cop serving America doubting his own kinds or this lady who brought up the kids being percieved as an irresponsible illegal alien or how that poor village dwelling Anwar how gracefully refuses to take the courtesy money that Pitt wants to give...Just because Anwar too feels the pain because it is universal and is higher than what sometimes America or developed nations end up thinking of developing places.
Emotions are universal and so is pain. -
MCT:August 7, 2008
some fine acting saves this pretentious film. I was expecting so much given the good reviews it received. It is slow and although each story is interesting...they are not that gripping...and the link is a tenious excuse to run the various themes. Well filmed...we acted...nothing great
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MCT:August 5, 2008
Fantastic movie from a bright and smart director. We know he is capable of telling multiple stories in one movie. We have seen it before in Amores Perros and 21 Grams. He is good at human emotions and characters, always giving us a lot to think about and observe. This movie is a great piece that shows us what a small incident could cause in this time and age.
This movie is post 9/11 and I think many people forget that. It just shows you how much we became obsessed with terrorism and racism and how that clouds or judgments and true justice from being served.
Each character was interesting enough to keep the movie going for the long running hours it's on. -
MCT:August 2, 2008
The most overblown film I have seen all year. The film has a lot of style, but little substance. Scenes and actually whole plotlines are thrown in with the main story purely to get across a message that is not central to the story. I will get to the details of that later. The acting is decent throughout with one standout, but besides that this film doesn?t really shine outside of some ambience moments, and a great score by Gustavo Santaolalla.
Here is the gist of the plot. Two boys in Morocco are given a rifle by their father?s friend to shoot jackal. They go off to attempt to make some kills, but aren?t having much luck. The oldest boy gets the ?bright? idea to test the ability of the gun which the friend touted as being able to hit a target up to 3 kilometers away. The take turns shooting around and then the older brother tries to hit a car far away. He misses, but then his younger brother, who is a better shot than him, shoots at a big tourist bus and hits someone. They run away. Meanwhile, the film follows the story of the woman who is accidentally shot and her frantic husband. That should be it conceivably. You have the suspense with the life in the balance and the culprits with the guilty conscience. Only the filmmakers try to go above and beyond to get across different messages aimed at current world affairs, specifically the United States. Normally I wouldn?t have a problem with that if it was fit into the story neatly as it is in Children of Men, but that is not the case here. The film makes up one completely pointless storyline to involve immigrants and another one which I am still not sure what message purpose it serves. Each is tied to the main story on extremely small side notes. They don?t directly help the potentially mortally wounded woman or even really help catch the culprit or culprits.
But funnily enough it is one of these side stories that offer the best acting performance in the film. Adriana Barraza plays the nanny for the two children of the couple who are in the crisis in Morocco. The couple is played by Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt in not over powering turns. She can?t find a substitute to watch the children so she can see her sons wedding in Mexico across the border. So she takes them with her. Not bright, but she has to see her son. She plays her part to full believability, she reminded me a bit of my grandmother. Her scenes in the desert are some of the most intense and desperate scenes of the film. She fully deserves her nominations.
The film has style going for it as well which is helped greatly by Santaolalla?s beautiful and sometimes overpowering score. The club scene where the deaf Asian girl is walking through it is the best example of the films great style. The camera follows her and her group walking up to the club hub where the music is the most intense and this is heard, but as she starts walking around the film flips between showing the club through her silent view and the normal view. It is dazzling and intense to one minute hear blaring music and the next silence. Nice touch, but that?s all this film is style with very little substance. Its message is lofty, but contrived. -
MCT:July 31, 2008
As três histórias de Iñarritu agora adotam uma conotação maior ainda: Linguas, culturas e paises totalmente diferentes, que são além das condições sociais impostas. O filme mostra de forma critica a dificuldade de entendimento entre si, e a diferenciação de tratamento gritante. E além de mostrar a distancia, mostra também a solidão, talvez uma coisa leve a outra né... enfim. Bom filme.
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MCT:July 28, 2008
The film is superior if you just look at the performances themselves, but when you combine them w/ a story that's trying to be way over-the-tope powerful, the whole thing doesn't quite mesh. Plus, the Japanese section fits in the narrative by the thinnest of strands. Barraza and Kikuchi (who got Oscar nods) are the ones to watch.
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MCT:July 28, 2008
Such a great commentary on international relations and racial profiling. With all the prejudice in the world, we're really all the same.
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MCT:July 28, 2008very good onje, all the story is great, and the fact that the little stories connect is very original and just great, love the drama, just great!
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MCT:July 27, 2008
A movie that brings out many emotions from it's cast and out of it's own audience. A great original story that shows you how one small yet significant action can change many lives, and the world.
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MCT:July 27, 2008
a little bit disappointing..kinda boring, not really much of a happy ending..shows how unfair life can be to others, and how some events can reall y alter your life
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MCT:July 25, 2008
Sucks you in at the start and doesn't let go until the very end. A great movie that I wish I would've seen a long time ago.
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MCT:July 24, 2008
a very good film a great emotional film about circumstance,we are all linked by our humanity,our feelings even if we don't live in the sames countries,the same society.IF WE ARE DIFFERENT it's makes ourself the SAMEs
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MCT:July 21, 2008
really good, i loved it! I love this movie because it is like a simplier, more refined crash and what i mean by that is that everyones lives are connected in the same way.
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MCT:July 21, 2008
an intensely emotional film, concerning the lives of many, and the struggles they go through. excellent performances, and a great story, or stories. my one complaint is that it reminded me a little too much of Inarritu's previous film, 21 Grams, as far as the basic idea of the film and the way it's told.
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MCT:July 20, 2008
The melding of the cultures was superbly done. It takes thinking to comprehend the intricacies of cultures and the interplay of politics. A movie I could easily watch again!
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Babel Recent Reviews
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Comments
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pavacri23posted 194 days ago -
This Movie Was Good But It's True It Didn't Need That Third Story The One About The Japanese People It Doesn't Fit In The Movie.
You, my friend, need to look deeper into the meaning of the movie than just the surface plot. The movie's themes about being all alone and helpless connect Rinko Kikuchi's character to the rest of the film.
Also there are four stories
Japanese
Mexico/American border
Brad Pitt/Cate Blanchette
The two arab boys.posted 327 days ago -
This Movie Was Good But It's True It Didn't Need That Third Story The One About The Japanese People It Doesn't Fit In The Movie.
posted 393 days ago -
Ohmigosh this film is awesome. My best friend took me to it for my birthday and I didn't expect it to be so great coz of the subtitles, but I loved it! Anyone who says it's rubbish has no taste.
posted 453 days ago -
All right, I liked this movie well enough, but the guy that says it's better than 21 Grams is completely out of his fucking mind.
It's better than 21 Grams, but both are still great films.
Babel is the last in the Iñarritu/Arriaga trilogy, and it's the only film that gets the fundamental emotions and message perfect. Babel is far better than 21 Grams.posted 453 days ago -
All right, I liked this movie well enough, but the guy that says it's better than 21 Grams is completely out of his fucking mind.
posted 466 days ago -
WHAT?! This movie was lame. As far as a plot goes anyway. 4 stories brought together by lack of a common language? I must've missed it. I can't believe this film was nominated for anything. I had to mute the movie a few times because that 'sound' was grating. I was expecting much more.
posted 467 days ago -
It appears as a documentary more than an ordinary movie.
Very political.Reflected parts of social & political lives of today at different countries at 3 different continents.
Very interesting.posted 503 days ago -
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this movie sucked i fell asleep in the first hr of it. It's that boring. I don't know how this got nominated for awards.
posted 534 days ago
