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If you predicted each of the plotlines' outcomes, kudos on your mindreading abilities

Posted by Jazz Inmate (A) on February 19, 2008 at 11:50:03

In Reply to: Babel posted by mishmashmusic on February 19, 2008 at 08:05:59:

I didn't know how the first few stories would end. The last one, I thought the girl would jump off the balcony. It was a gutsy film that took a lot of chances. I usually dislike Pitt and Blanchett, but even they did alright. Most of all, I loved the cinematography and was blown away watching the Blu-ray version. It was filmed expertly.

Excerpted from my review:

In the Book of Genesis, the story of Babel reveals how mankind's push to overachieve backfires, leading to the spread of divine confusion and spiritual pain. The biblical story has inspired many artists over the centuries and director Alejandro Iñárritu is certainly an artist. If there was any doubt of that before, he dispels it here. His vision is powerful, his actors perform magnificently and his story, despite flaws and risky subject matter, is accessible and even noble, if not rising to its spiritual inspiration. Iñárritu achieves riveting performances from his entire cast--from children and foreign actors never before seen in Hollywood to superstars Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett.

The film weaves tales of confusion, miscommunication, terror and alienation in Morocco, Tokyo, San Diego and Mexico. It begins as an arab father buys a rifle for his two sons to protect a goat herd from jackals. In a horrid test of target practice, the boys take aim at a bus winding on a mountain pass below. With dramatic camera work and haunting music that bring audiences into the characters' locales and psyches, Iñárritu creates a strong gravitational force that moves through an ultradramatic narrative.

The stories unfold in a nonlinear way as Iñárritu attempts to weave together the seemingly disconnected subplots. He valiantly attempts to link them together. Perhaps the strands should have been left separate and produced as different vignettes, each in a linear way, from beginning to end. But I admire Iñárritu for attempting to resolve a tricky narrative with so many unrelated characters. Whether he pulls it off is debatable, but his skill and vision is beyond doubt. The film is not for everyone and has some disturbing content that portrays violence and nudity in ways that audiences are unaccustomed to seeing. For those of us who like to be drawn into a truly inspired cinematographic experience, Babel comes strongly recommended. And Paramount did a fine job with the Blu-ray.

Alienation, pain and miscommunication are universal themes, common to all humanity. Babel captures these themes well and weaves adept, muscular stories around them. The film does not achieve absolute spirituality and timelessness, but the stories are handled with great care and artistic vision. In the hands of a lesser filmmaker than Iñárritu, these plot lines would have come unglued, but we are treated to a film of ample quality and of emotive, spellbinding content. The book of Genesis tells of mankind's push to build a city, a tower, reaching to the heavens. In the modern world, many of our cities have such towers. And Iñárritu's stories come to an end on one of these high risers, looking out over the lights of Tokyo at night.

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"I have found that if you love life, life will love you back." -Arthur Rubinstein (1887-1982)

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