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Review: Babel
Feb. 22nd, 2007 05:52 pmPlot:
A tourist is shot while on holiday in Morocco. The plot then follows a variety of people, both intimately and tangentially connected to the shooting, as they go about their lives over the following few days.
Review:
At first I thought it would be very easy to come out of Babel feeling nothing at all. The series of stories it contains are linked very loosely, and on the surface there's no great moral or theme to it.
But suddenly, about two thirds of the way through, I realised what it was all about - and that the clue was in the name. This seems such an obvious place to look that part of me can't believe I didn't spot it earlier, but with most movie titles being chosen for coolness value I didn't really pay much attention to it. Babel is about borders. The borders between countries like Mexico and the US. The borders between cultures like Islam and the West. The borders that couples throw up to protect themselves from hurt. The borders we create when someone is different to the norm. It's about the way these borders prevent people from getting the help they need. The way these borders can take years of life and tell you they meant nothing. The way they can leave you desperate because people have placed you on the other side. And about the way that sometimes people can reach across and help someone because they realise that the borders are nowhere but in their own heads.
I came out of it feeling connected, uplifted and thoughtful. You really can't ask for much more in a film than that.
Oh, and it's gorgeously written, directed, acted and shot. In case that kind of thing matters to you.
9/10
A tourist is shot while on holiday in Morocco. The plot then follows a variety of people, both intimately and tangentially connected to the shooting, as they go about their lives over the following few days.
Review:
At first I thought it would be very easy to come out of Babel feeling nothing at all. The series of stories it contains are linked very loosely, and on the surface there's no great moral or theme to it.
But suddenly, about two thirds of the way through, I realised what it was all about - and that the clue was in the name. This seems such an obvious place to look that part of me can't believe I didn't spot it earlier, but with most movie titles being chosen for coolness value I didn't really pay much attention to it. Babel is about borders. The borders between countries like Mexico and the US. The borders between cultures like Islam and the West. The borders that couples throw up to protect themselves from hurt. The borders we create when someone is different to the norm. It's about the way these borders prevent people from getting the help they need. The way these borders can take years of life and tell you they meant nothing. The way they can leave you desperate because people have placed you on the other side. And about the way that sometimes people can reach across and help someone because they realise that the borders are nowhere but in their own heads.
I came out of it feeling connected, uplifted and thoughtful. You really can't ask for much more in a film than that.
Oh, and it's gorgeously written, directed, acted and shot. In case that kind of thing matters to you.
9/10
