film: Babel, The Movie

[ambush]

Babel, The Movie

I've just came back from watching Babel, the movie, at the Cinema.

It's really a shame that I almost ended up not going to see it because the critics made it look like the failed ambition of a director. Lesson learned... basing myself on the critics is a bad idea. (for instance, it got 69/100 on metacritic.com)

Anyway... if you haven't seen it, go see it. It's really a great (in a "heavy" kind of way)

The political message it sends is powerful and highly relevant, yet people have failed to recognize this movie as something more than a flick featuring 3 dramas going on in parallel.

Before seeing it, you should indeed be familiar with the story of The Tower Of Babel in the Genesis.

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Babel
According to the narrative in Genesis Chapter 11 of the Bible, the Tower of Babel was a tower built by a united humanity to reach the heavens. Because the hearts of men were said to be inherently evil and disobedient, they were striving to make a name for themselves instead of worshipping the God who created them. Because of this open defiance, God stopped their efforts by confusing languages so that the builders could not understand one another. As a result, they could no longer communicate and the work was halted. The builders were then scattered to different parts of Earth. This story is used to explain the existence of many different languages and races.

for instance, read this critic from a metacritic user who gave it a 6

Gonzalez Inarritu is a great, talented director, but his ambition to make an emotional "epic" bombs. Its way too long and the characters are poorly developed, by the middle of the film I couldn't have cared if all of them died. (...) And by the way, enough is enough with interlocking stories in a movie. We've seen it all already.

This user fails to understand the symbolic references the director is making thruout the movie....

Worst of all, this stupid reviewer from the washington post really fails to get the big picture... in a very similar manner.

Yet as sophisticated a piece of filmmaking as it is, it seems hamstrung by the banality at its center; that's why it never assembles into a satisfying whole. It's pretty -- oh, what's the word? -- stupid in its dramatization of the silly little connections that unite us, and it's somewhat selective in its choice of them.

hear this one out:

All told, the movie also is a tremendous downer. The script goes for a vaguely upbeat conclusion, but it has no spiritual dimension that the viewer feels with any emotion, and it conveys a hopeless, pessimistic future for the interconnected world that it portrays.

a big booh for these unintelligent conservative critics.

on the other hand, they are so content after seeing the latest james bond. *sigh*

 

[kittyinthedark]

In before the close!!!!!!!!!!! Woo! Well, redirect. But whatever. WOO!

 

[plurMONSTER]

In before close, too!!!

 

[alasdairm]

what bl really needs is a forum where we can discuss movies

alasdair

 

[ambush]

ok... i don't get this... i really thought it would go in the lounge.

sorry all... don't be harsh.

 

[SA]

I'm glad you came away with such a strong opinion, ambush, and not simply another "cool film". I'll be going to see this next week (I hope).

lol @ alasdairm

 

[plurMONSTER]

ambush, don't get upset, just put movie shit in Film & Television.

 

[Miss Behavin]

lol niccce

 

["Freshly Baked"]

I've just came back from watching Babel, the movie, at the Cinema.

It's really a shame that I almost ended up not going to see it because the critics made it look like the failed ambition of a director. Lesson learned... basing myself on the critics is a bad idea. (for instance, it got 69/100 on metacritic.com)

Anyway... if you haven't seen it, go see it. It's really a great (in a "heavy" kind of way)

The political message it sends is powerful and highly relevant, yet people have failed to recognize this movie as something more than a flick featuring 3 dramas going on in parallel.

Before seeing it, you should indeed be familiar with the story of The Tower Of Babel in the Genesis.



for instance, read this critic from a metacritic user who gave it a 6



This user fails to understand the symbolic references the director is making thruout the movie....

Worst of all, this stupid reviewer from the washington post really fails to get the big picture... in a very similar manner.



hear this one out:




a big booh for these unintelligent conservative critics.

on the other hand, they are so content after seeing the latest james bond. *sigh*

Looked Great. Was going to see it in theatres, but Im lazy, so i'll wait till i see it in a video store.

 

[alasdairm]

rate this movie

alasdair

 

[alphamonkey]

crash was way better

 

[VerbalTruist]

Its all at 2 stars right now due to the fact that I'm THE ONLY FUCKING VOTE!

wo0t to all of you

 

[L2R]

A brilliantly executed piece which left me scratching my head afterwards looking for a point.
Thanks to the OP for that info on the Tower of Babel, it does shed some light.
While watching this film, I felt like Cate Blanchet was being completely wasted in her part, but over time, I appreciated the way both Cate and Brad Pitt were not overshadowing any of the other, just as main characters.
The stories, while intriguing on their own, do not link strongly enough to carry the entire run time of this film IMO. The film seemed far too scattered, but perhaps that was the point.
In the light of the Tower of Babel info above, it's clear that the plots to each segment were all pretty irrelevant. Any loosely related "six degrees of seperation" tale would've sufficed.
4/5 (predominantly for quality filmmaking)

 

[hoptis]

I'm going to steal my g/f's analysis here and say I thought this moofie was about misunderstanding. The trouble Pitt's character has in getting help for his shot wife, a young boy not quite understanding the consequences of shooting a gun, the babysitter who can't quite explain to border patrol why she has two white kids and the deaf girl; well that's pretty straight-forward.

Thank god she doesn't read BL or she'd totally crack the shites with me for ripping off her analysis... I do it all the time and claim it as mine to look smart

I'm not quite sure about my own feelings on the moofie, I liked it in parts, I found all the four stories interesting but would agree that the Japanese girl's was the most fascinating... was almost going to give this film an extra star just for the cool drug reference. A deaf mute taking ecstasy and going to a club... I thought that sequence was particularly well done.

3 Stars

 

[glitterbizkit]

This is the one with gael Garcia Bernal isn't it? Can't wait to see it....

 

[MynameisnotDeja]

.....someone please explain to me why when I saw this movie it had no subtitles, but in the credits (reading online) it says it HAS subtitles? We spent most of the movie wondering what was going on and I was wondering why everyone else had no problem understanding. Oh my god if Id had any clue I would have asked for my money back ON the spot but I thought it was supposed to be that way (BABEL and all)..

???????????????????????????????????

Edit: Apparantly the theater I went to has been getting shitty, incomplete copies of films. Ive already contacted the BBB about this. I thought this seemed like an interesting movie WITHOUT knowing what the hell was going on, so I can only imagine how I might have liked it seeing it with subtitles.
Id go again but the incomplete version is the only one playing around here. Unbelievable.

 

[hoptis]

^^^

Speaking of misunderstanding lol... the moofie definitely does have subtitles and would be pretty much impossible to understand a lot of it without... I mean, unless you know a fair few languages including sign language.

 

[SA]

I found this film a bit drawn out and a lot disjointed. The novelty of the four-in-one film has warn off on me. It's as if the director, in the time allotted for one film, throws four films at you and hopes you'll come away liking at least one. Give me one good film, one captivating storyline.

I gave it a three.

 

[nalbano34]

I am going to see it tonight, kinda mixed reviews here, but seems like a worthy film.

 

[MynameisnotDeja]

^^^

Speaking of misunderstanding lol... the moofie definitely does have subtitles and would be pretty much impossible to understand a lot of it without... I mean, unless you know a fair few languages including sign language.

Oh no, we knew NOTHING. We thought maybe it was symbolic..like you were supposed to just watch the interaction and body language between the characters. I mean we could follow pretty much the story we just didnt know the details.

WHY would a theater even HAVE a movie minus the subtitles? How does that happen?