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69.228.5.32
This film has the same interwoven plot lines as Crash. And some of the same morality preaching. The transfer of a gun sparks numerous unforseeable consequences, with Babel postulating Americans are racist, the rest of the world treats Americans better than America treats them. The entire segment of the Japanese schoolgirl went over my head, but what a tragic waste of the actor who played in the great film "Cure". He is even wearing the same clothes he wore in that movie. He gets all of three lines in Babel despite being a movie star in Japan.I give this happy ending feelgood America-basher a C+.
Follow Ups:
I can see how you came to that, but whilst Crash starts with "we crash into each other just to feel something", Babel is about how hard it is to communicate despite the or because of the information rain falling over us.
On the big level the US won't stop saying "terrorist" and it causes problems getting the helicopter in even after they have said not to send the ambulance. On a small level the Japanese girls can only understand if anyone speaks slowly.
Both films deal with dislocation though.
I thought it was like Crash but more so...
Not just focusing on the USA and for those of us in the rest of the world that is a plus. Remember every time we see another film based in the US we have to make that jump into thinking that is normal.
The stars didn't get to hog the screen, even Pitt and Blanchett don't appear for over 15 minutes and they have no ore in it than the other characters I think.
Possibly the Mexican nanny had the biggest part.
I liked it a lot but I didn't come out feeling good, as it didn't have as much of a feelgood last scene as Crash.
And better for it.
a
yes it used the same device to weave the seperate stories together but I don't think this was about Americans being bad and others treating us better than we treat them. not even close. To me the theme was quite obvious yet well played. It was about human disconnect.All four stories centered around the disconnect between it's main characters and their reconnection in the midst of loss and tragic events. I think the use of characters from differnt cultures was meant to highlight the universality of disconnect. We all put our pants on one leg at a time and we all sufffer the same human frailties. I liked it.
I saw how emotional and demanding Americans are, how self-centered people with Brit accents are, how stupid Mexicans are, and how emotionally detached and scarred the Japanese are.Not a flattering movie for anyone.
Grits: "Rewarding, very, very, VERY REWARDING!"
and I am not trying to be, but do you really think the film drew those lines or did you? There were many Americans in this movie, how many were emotional and demanding? There were many Japanese people in this movie, how many were scarred and emotionally detached? Same for the Mexicans. Many of them in the movie, how many were simply stupid? I don't think the movie makes any stereotypes. The individuals act on their own. As I see it no one is stupid or emotional or self-centered because they are of one nationality or another in this movie. Funny thing is all the main characters share the same frailties and virtues.
"Funny thing is all the main characters share the same frailties and virtues."Exactly. Which is why the viewer is inclined to step into the trap of automatically aligning the characters with their respective cultures, when in fact their frailties, virtues, and vulnerabilities make them culturally interchangeable...or simply put, human. Inarritu is a much more inquisitive filmmaker than is Gaggis, who in "Crash" tapped into predictable audience preconceptions to hammer home the point that we're all racist. In "Crash", the characters are are their stereotypes, both as perpetrators and victims. The film was awarded for confirming exactly what audiences already believed to be true even before seeing it. As one critic noted, it wasn't plotted, it was programmed. Whereas "Babel" prompted questions, "Crash" professed to have all of the answers from take one.
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Grits: "Rewarding, very, very, VERY REWARDING!"
Stereotyping predates motion pictures by several millenia. When you say "nailed" it seems like you are saying the stereotypes you saw are accurate? i hope that isn't what you meant.
but I certainly understand your point.Ever see any clips of Hitler's propaganda films on Jews on History Channel or TLC? Powerful stereotypes created and made believable by constant repetition.
This film is carelessly bad stereotyping since it was meant for an international audience.
(Oh, I forgot about it showing my how simple-minded and brutal Muslims are.)
Grits: "Rewarding, very, very, VERY REWARDING!"
Interesting that you saw Muslims as being portrayed as brutal and simple-minded. Seemed to me the guy helping Brad Pitt was anything but. In fact no one in that village came off as either brutal or simple minded to me. Did tyhey really come off that way to you? The kids were, well, kids. their father was a bit brutal but i think with that group the featured disconnect was between the father and his kids. Not a particlularly Muslim thing. The government agents were ceertainly brutal but I think that is simply often the truth with agents of monarchies. Again, not something exclusive to Muslims. You'd see that fro real in many other african nations. You know the non-Islamic ones. So I gues I don't see stereotyping here. I see many people of each nationality clearly NOT being played as the stereotypes you are seeing.
The kids were stone simple, dad was harsh and brutal, the police were beyond brutal willing to shoot kids dead without blinking.Everybody gets a black eye in this one.
Grits: "Rewarding, very, very, VERY REWARDING!"
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what is the name of that actor, the Japanese guy; he is great, although like you say, showed no emotional range. BUT WHAT THE heck was the point about his wife not jumping? She could not have shot herself with that rifle, I don't think, hard to do.And Kate B. is not movie star quality in the looks...
Big, and as a result, better difference, IMHO.
But I saw it as symbolic of the connectiveness we all share as human beings. I thought it was a nice nuance that worked as in interesting counter to the disconnect the main characters suffered throughout this movie with those closest to them. Poetic if not entirely realistic. I liked the choice.
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