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MOVIES / ON DVD / BABEL
Babel

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Babel (2006)

68%
75%
79%
N/A
N/A
N/A
68 %
Reviews Counted: 189 Fresh: 129  Rotten:60 Average Rating: 6.7/10
 
Consensus: Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu weaves stories into this multidimensional film. In Babel, there are no villains, only victims of fate and circumstance. Director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu weaves four of their woeful stories into this mature and multidimensional film. more
 
Rated: 15
Runtime: 2 hrs 23 mins 1 sec
Theatrical Release: 19-01-2007
Synopsis:
BABEL is the crowning achievement in the trilogy from the unstoppable creative pairing of screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga and director Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu, which also includes AMORES PERROS (2000) and 21 GRAMS (2003). Building upon its predecessors' method of weaving together... [More]
BABEL is the crowning achievement in the trilogy from the unstoppable creative pairing of screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga and director Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu, which also includes AMORES PERROS (2000) and 21 GRAMS (2003). Building upon its predecessors' method of weaving together disparate storylines, BABEL reaches new heights of ambition with a tale that, in the absence of traditional narrative and protagonist, relies on numerous incredible performances to evoke an affecting relevance by framing contemporary issues in very human struggles and mistakes. Richard and Susan (Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett) are a wealthy couple from San Diego who are vacationing in Morocco in order to heal after the death of their young child; their other two children are at home with their Mexican maid, Amelia (Adriana Barraza). In a complex shift of ownership to which the audience is privy, a rifle finds its way into the hands of a local herdsman's young sons (Said Tarchani and Boubker Ait El Caid), who recklessly take a shot at a tour bus and catch Susan in the shoulder, causing her to nearly lose her life. The distraught Richard calls home to tell Amelia of the situation, who promptly departs for Mexico to attend her child's wedding, with Richard and Susan's children in tow. Disaster thus multiplies, with the situation in Morocco ascribed to terrorists in the media, while Amelia meets with the harsh immigration policies of the Bush administration. Meanwhile, in Tokyo, a widower (Koji Yakusho) tied to the rifle in question attempts to deal with his memories and his raucous, promiscuous, deaf daughter (Rinko Kikuchi). Nearly every performance of the film is devastating, offering an intimate, emotional experience that would approach melodrama if it weren't rendered so realistically. Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto's color palette masterfully captures the muted tones of the harsh natural landscapes of Morocco and the Mexican border, as well as the fluorescent lights of Tokyo that denote another, though equally barren, end of the spectrum. The misunderstandings born of cultural, language, and class barriers are on par with those that occur between family members, depicting a world that, while connected in the least expected of ways, is also faced with a deep-seated crisis that threatens to alienate humanity from itself. [Less]

Genre: Dramas

Starring: Cate Blanchett, Brad Pitt, Gael Garcia Bernal, Mahima Chaudhry, Shilpa Shetty

Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Screenwriter: Guillermo Arriaga Jordan
Producer: Steve Golin, Jon Kilik, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Corrine Golden Weber
Composer: Gustavo Santaolalla

DVD Info

Release:

Jan 9, 2009

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • 2-Disc Set - Keep Case
  • Widescreen

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround - English, French
  • Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround - English
  • Subtitles - English, French, Spanish - Optional

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Ratings Image

An impressive, beautifully acted work with a tragic sense of life. The formality of its structure controls a seething anger.

Full Review | Comment
01/27/07 05:40 AM
Philip French
Observer [UK]
Ratings Image

Well acted and handsomely photographed, but still extraordinarily overpraised and overblown, a middlebrow piece of near-nonsense: the kind of self-conscious arthouse cinema that is custom-tailored and machine-tooled for the dinner-party demographic.

Full Review | Comment
01/20/07 07:54 AM
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
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Ratings Image

You can't make the same film three times and not expect people to carp. Go and see it with politically-minded friends and thrash it out afterwards over coffee.

Full Review | Comment
01/17/07 03:36 AM
Matthew De Abaitua
Channel 4 Film
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Ratings Image

Babel can be unnecessarily convoluted, ultimately though it's the stark simplicity of the dilemmas faced by each character that hits home, wherever that may be.

Full Review | Comment
01/16/07 02:34 AM
Stella Papamichael
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

If misery is your pornography, Babel is your holy grail.

Full Review | Comment
01/16/07 02:02 AM
Dave Calhoun
Time Out
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Ratings Image

For all its contrivances, Babel offers a gripping treatise on fate, chance and language with an epic sweep that leaves you marvelling at its ambition.

Full Review | Comment
01/15/07 06:52 AM
Neil Smith
Total Film
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Well structured, but rather cold.

Full Review | Comment
01/15/07 01:27 AM
Mark Adams
Sunday Mirror [UK]
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It may be too slow for some tastes, but Babel remains emotionally bruising but compulsive viewing.

Full Review | Comment
01/04/07 05:00 AM
Ian Freer
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
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The entire ensemble cast give terrific performances, particularly Kikuchi, whose heart-breaking performance is simultaneously shocking, funny and moving.

Full Review | Comment
11/03/06 03:18 AM
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon
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Iñárritu and Arriaga continue their three-pronged approach with this powerfully moving drama.

Full Review | Comment
10/28/06 04:50 AM
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
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A lumbering, stitched-together mess.

Full Review | Comment
07/23/07 07:49 AM
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com
Ratings Image

Babel directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu is one of the most compelling films to date.

Full Review | Comment
07/22/07 12:27 AM
Moira Sullivan
Movie Magazine International
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Click to read the article

Full Review | Comment
07/14/07 06:16 AM
Joe Lozito
Big Picture Big Sound
Ratings Image

an affecting examination of disconnected lives in an interconnected world.

Full Review | Comment
07/02/07 07:54 AM
Anton Bitel
Eye for Film
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | Comment
06/29/07 03:15 AM
David Edelstein
New York Magazine
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With some irony, the byzantine Babel is the one that babbles, speaking without actually saying much of anything.

Full Review | Comment
06/21/07 10:31 AM
Kevin Koehler
Pretentious Musings
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Smart, interesting to look at, and courageous, this is one of the best films of 2006.

Full Review | Comment
05/02/07 12:29 AM
Brian Webster
Apollo Guide
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There is some hope, in Iñárritu's world, each of the characters may have a family and love, but this is shown to be, at best, a diversion against the real world, which is a much more intolerable, incomprehensive place.

Full Review | Comment
03/27/07 03:56 PM
Michael Wade Simpson
culturevulture.net
Ratings Image

The kind of film that will echo deep in your soul.

Full Review | Comment
03/24/07 12:06 PM
Brian Tallerico
UGO
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | Comment
03/03/07 07:48 AM
Ebert & Roeper
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