Oscar Nominee: Babel is intense. It has intense music. It takes place in intense locales. Brad Pitt is so intense that his hair has gone white. The trouble is all of this intensity builds up around a set of characters you are never given incentive to care about. The four storylines bounce around at a pace that all but guarantees you won’t lose yourself in this film. Instead you are constantly reminded that the stories are being manipulated by director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s vision. Instead you think about how exhausting it must have been shooting in so many varied locations. Instead you think about how you wouldn’t mind if the two American children in the movie were left to die in the desert because they are so damned annoying. This film has been crafted, not simply made. Those who crafted it will not let you forget about them even for a minute.
The movie isn’t a total wash. There are two stellar performances that bring some humanity to this cold, cold, film. Said Tarchani plays a young Moroccan boy whose ability to fire a rifle sets two of the storylines in motion. His facial expressions are undeniably authentic and you begin to feel what it would be like to be in such a horrific situation. Rinko Kikuchi is similarly able to pull us into her character’s search for contact in a sterile and bigoted environment. Too bad they get swallowed up in this supposed grand gesture of a movie that ends up minimizing these ostensibly intense stories with the manner in which they are displayed.
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This is the second Oscar nominated movie I've seen so far - they are all in my Netflix queue- and for the second time I have to say - "DUH"??????????
Okay Nat, you said it better,(much better) but the movie was pretty much a letdown. Yes, very intense and some good acting. In addition to those two deviant kids, I think the actress who played the nanny/housekeeper was quite good. On the other hand, what was she thinking, driving back across the border with the intoxicated nephew? And why didn't they cross at Tijuana, where there is much more traffic and less time for scrutiny by the border cops than Tecate?
That is just a tad harsh to say we didn't care if the annoying kids perished in the desert, however true it is! Personally, I didn't give a crap if the cranky wife died in Morocco either. You get the impression that their marriage will probably be saved, only because she got shot and almost died in this horrible underdeveloped country.
I'm waiting anxiously by the mailbox for a better movie.
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