Movie Review: Babel - Comments Page 2

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• 26 - Shawn O'Shea

  Aug 27, 2007 at 12:11 pm

  This movie will stay with me forever. At first, because of the title 'Babel' , I thought it would be about the obvious . . miscommunication. And as the film progressed, there seemed to be so many bad things that could possibly happen in Mexico to the American children, but didn't . . so I began thinking this will be about how, even with
  differing cultures and languages, people of good will can all get along.
  
  But then the children almost died in the desert and that ended that theory for me. The final scene
  was when I think the whole film's theme suddenly became clear. The Japanese man and his daughter,
  living in a penthouse in an extremely expensive city . . literally on top of the world, and yet incredibly dysfunctional. Sure, they had a family
  tragedy, but nothing like some of the poorer cultures portrayed, who just manage to eke out a
  subsistence living.
  
  It made me think this is about miscommunication
  between social classes. The Japanese man gave a weapon as a gift to a poor herdsman that was probably worth more than the the poor fellow makes
  in two years. The gift may have been well-intentioned, but he had no idea where or what the rifle would end up doing in a foreign culture full of smugglers and (alluded to) terrorists.
  
  And Brad Pitt's family in the film goes through some bad moments, but his life will resume while
  his childcare worker's dream of life in the US is dashed. It just seemed like the poorest had the hardest consequences in all these situations. The
  other herdsman's son was killed by police, etc.
  
  So, I feel the film's true message was how the better off people in the world negatively affect the poorer cultures, regardless of good intentions, and probably because of cultural insensitivity (self-absorbtion, thoughtlessness?).
  
  

• 27 - Rick E.

  Oct 15, 2007 at 7:03 am

  The fact that no one can agree on what the hell the movie is about is a sure sign it is a BAD movie.
  
  

• 28 - dabui

  Dec 13, 2007 at 10:28 pm

  i was only here to know what the japanese note was really all about. it wasnt clear enough but some of the opinions i saw here mad sense somehow. then i remember jap directors make their films making the viewers asking for explanation on some scenes that leave them clueless. it is this element and style that the director must have also included in this jap part of the movie. its amazing how he understood this culture and that of mexicans and that of that tazarine. it even amazed me when i felt that the musical score on the ending of the film (jap father and daughter while camera pulling away) was an exact fit to the scene.
  
  the problem with criticism is that we often forget to appreciate the film, the story, and the point of view of the director. doesnt matter if he did good or not, at least he delivered it in a way he understood it for himself, and for most of us,anyways. we've got to dig deeper. i thought this film was boring too when i watched the first chapter. but i found out it was interesting after all, how scenes of stupidity are mostly present on most of the films that are being done today. even comedies. just watch boss's daughter. youll know what i mean.

• 29 - lacy

  Jan 01, 2008 at 4:32 am

  i do think one element of the tower of babel that was communicated in this movie is that we are all one. at the tower of babel, humankind was scattered and given different languages. though we are separated by oceans and languages and socio-economic status and cultures, we still are inextricably linked.
  
  at the tower of babel, humanity was united in an evil purpose, and thus scattered and confused. even in our present fragmented lives, we still have great power to inflict evil and pain, be it ignorantly or unintentionally.
  
  at the same time, we also have power for good, which is increased when we come back together in unity. humanity was scattered, i believe, to thwart evil. but now, i believe, humanity is to be gathered together again, united for good rather than evil. one display of this in the film was pitt and blanchett being helped by the moroccan man and woman.

• 30 - climber

  Feb 10, 2008 at 9:12 pm

  It seems everybody missed the fact that the American couple "got away" because she blamed him for the SIDS death of their baby. What else have we all missed?

• 31 - Oh Yeah

  Jul 02, 2009 at 1:24 pm

  Skip this junk with Pedophillic undertones. Wanna see a great movie? See the British version of the movie "Revolver". Not the dumbed down American Version. Brilliant Brilliant movie!!

• 32 - zingzing

  Jul 02, 2009 at 1:54 pm

  you have to be joking.

• 33 - roger nowosielski

  Jul 02, 2009 at 2:10 pm

  Three altogether disparate and disjointed stories with one connection, the glue, which holds them together - the rifle. Interesting concept, demonstrating how we're all interconnected through even the most trivial of artifacts. A variation of sorts on The Butterfly Effect.

• 34 - C. Stone

  Oct 21, 2010 at 7:29 am

  Wow I ve read some of the comments around here, ppl writing that it is a bad movie because they couldnt get a message and that it is boring (because there are no special effects???) - this most be a joke? And shows how well they actually did with this movie - miscommunication is not only a theme in it but also works as the "code" first on a level of realization (we can only understand fragments, depending on which language we understand) and second, on a level of interpretation (many think the messages' communicaton fails)
  
  I guess a lot of ppl who left comments on this forum should spend some time with literature in order to realize that complex works of art need intensive interpretation in order to be understood and do not easily deliver "a moral of the story" just like that. Maybe many also lack (cultural) empathy and imagination, personally I would not even need a connection between the stories, like in a good book it is up to the reader what s/he interprets in the story and how s/he connects the fragments and makes a meaning of this connection.

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