I had heard mixed reviews on this film, but I figured I would enjoy it. I expected to find it at least emotionally exhausting, with maybe some interesting points of view for discussion. I also really liked the director's other films, "21 Grams," and "Amores Perros." But "Babel" never amounts to much. It gives us random stories, with supposedly interesting characters, that have forced histories and conclusions.
We have the Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett couple, traveling in Morocco. Blanchett explains that the couple had a newborn die recently, probably of SIDS. This doesn't appear heartbreaking or real--it's just another back-story, a "so this baggage explains our current mood and want to escape" revelation. I never felt like I knew much about the couple at all. They're just another plot device with a back-story. Why do people think this is Pitt's best performance ever? The couple's story involves Blanchett getting shot at random in Morocco, yet still the movie never feels urgent. We know too little about this couple to care whether or not she'll make it.
Then there is the couple's illegal alien maid back at home, watching over their children. The character is a saint, and so are the children. That's all she is, a saint, another by-the-numbers character.
The young Japanese girl has a more involving story, but it doesn't feel any less contrived. She's deaf, mute, has an attitude, her mother died, she has a strained and distant relationship with her father and she's sexually frustrated. I don't understand why the makers of this movie thought the character's sexual frustration made her more complex, interesting, or unique--she's not much different from any other (somewhat exhibitionist) girl her age. And I can't believe that young males would shun her because she's deaf, when she's cute and obviously willing. When we learn about the true reason behind her mother's death, the movie starts to feel like we're watching "Lost" episode flashbacks. The film is a group of stories that have back-stories we've seen in movies and on television more often than they happen in real life. The director seems to love the idea of having the audience wonder how these random stories could be related. When we do find out how, with a photograph, even the photo appears to have been doctored.
The film's political messages are underwhelming. They aren't completely clear and don't have much fire to them. We are supposed to feel for the couple's maid, as she is stopped at the border by immigration officials. I didn't see any reason why her nephew would step on the gas and try to flee--it felt very forced. This leads to the tragedy of her spending the night with the kids in the desert and walking around for an hour or so the next morning--big deal. We later learn that she is illegal and will be deported. This is really only an afterthought, which has nothing to do with the movie (oh, BTW--she's ILLEGAL. And she loves the children. And she will be deported--how tragic!) The rest of the other political messages are unconvincing. Terrorism is just American paranoia? Moroccans and the Moroccan government care deeply about punishing their own who hurt Americans?
Director Alejandro González Iñárritu seems to have been in a rush to make this film with gimmicky plots, back-stories, and irrelevant political messages. Grade: C+
We have the Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett couple, traveling in Morocco. Blanchett explains that the couple had a newborn die recently, probably of SIDS. This doesn't appear heartbreaking or real--it's just another back-story, a "so this baggage explains our current mood and want to escape" revelation. I never felt like I knew much about the couple at all. They're just another plot device with a back-story. Why do people think this is Pitt's best performance ever? The couple's story involves Blanchett getting shot at random in Morocco, yet still the movie never feels urgent. We know too little about this couple to care whether or not she'll make it.
Then there is the couple's illegal alien maid back at home, watching over their children. The character is a saint, and so are the children. That's all she is, a saint, another by-the-numbers character.
The young Japanese girl has a more involving story, but it doesn't feel any less contrived. She's deaf, mute, has an attitude, her mother died, she has a strained and distant relationship with her father and she's sexually frustrated. I don't understand why the makers of this movie thought the character's sexual frustration made her more complex, interesting, or unique--she's not much different from any other (somewhat exhibitionist) girl her age. And I can't believe that young males would shun her because she's deaf, when she's cute and obviously willing. When we learn about the true reason behind her mother's death, the movie starts to feel like we're watching "Lost" episode flashbacks. The film is a group of stories that have back-stories we've seen in movies and on television more often than they happen in real life. The director seems to love the idea of having the audience wonder how these random stories could be related. When we do find out how, with a photograph, even the photo appears to have been doctored.
The film's political messages are underwhelming. They aren't completely clear and don't have much fire to them. We are supposed to feel for the couple's maid, as she is stopped at the border by immigration officials. I didn't see any reason why her nephew would step on the gas and try to flee--it felt very forced. This leads to the tragedy of her spending the night with the kids in the desert and walking around for an hour or so the next morning--big deal. We later learn that she is illegal and will be deported. This is really only an afterthought, which has nothing to do with the movie (oh, BTW--she's ILLEGAL. And she loves the children. And she will be deported--how tragic!) The rest of the other political messages are unconvincing. Terrorism is just American paranoia? Moroccans and the Moroccan government care deeply about punishing their own who hurt Americans?
Director Alejandro González Iñárritu seems to have been in a rush to make this film with gimmicky plots, back-stories, and irrelevant political messages. Grade: C+