Babel (2006)

Nominee

Alejandro González Iñárritu is a genius. Having just finished Amorres perros for my Spanish class and now watching this film, you see an obsession in what separates us and what can bring us together. In addition, there is an interest in domino effects, how one small act can lead to something earth shattering to someone else. He wants us all to recognize that we are connected to people we will never meet and our decisions effect their lives.

I went into this film sort of dubiously. I had read the back on put it back on the shelf at the library so many times, it just sounded like a different version of Crash (2005). In addition, my older brother told me that he thought the film was unbelievable in the sense that the people in this film seemed to have no sense of responsibility. However I feel that is a perfect example of what Iñárritu is attempting to show us. Our perception of cultures cannot be judged in the scope of out own social boundaries. Cultural necessities change based on what we do to survive. You would send your child out with a gun to protect the goats if that was the only thing you could do to survive. However I will agree that the inter connecting is a little contrived but I forgive it based on the way the film is able to show us raw human emotion. We may be separated by language, but we are united by emotion, one specified in this film as anguish.

The shots in this film were beautiful, this film relies on facial expression and it was captured with grace and honesty. To be frank the most disappointing portion of this film was Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. Both have displayed more poignant characterization in the past and their scenes fell a little flat for me. The biggest problem with their plot line was we got a glimpse of their back story but it was not filled in enough so their reconciliation seemed empty to me.

Overall: A well done insightful film. Definitely worth the watch, and in my opinion should have won that year.

A Quote this film reminded me of: "Thou canst not stir a flower without troubling a star."