07-03-13 Babel (2006)

Seen: March 11th, 2007
Format: Blu-Ray
Rating: 7

This one had been sitting on the coffee table for a while. I'd put it off because I knew it'd be a challenge. I was right.

Babel has garnered a lot of attention. I've enjoyed Iñárritu's work, though I feel he's getting more abstruse with each of his films. Babel follows this trend.

I don't exactly know when the interlocking story became so popular in film, but it's certainly an increasing trend. My favorite use of it is probably Pulp Fiction. Iñárritu likes to use it, and does so to good effect. Its effective use generally requires not only common elements, but a common thread or theme which is important, if not central, to all the stories. In Babel, that thread is failure of communication.

Most of the unfortunate circumstances that occur in the film can be attributed to a lack of communication between one or more characters. Its fascinating to see the range of these failures. There are failures in translation, failures to listen, failures to talk, failures to be explicit and failures at even attempting to communicate in the first place.

The stories themselves are not so compelling to me. They're interesting, but seem largely staged just to highlight the potential scope of communication breakdown. This is not to say that they are implausible or thin. Personally I just don't find them that engaging. Perhaps this is part of Iñárritu's plan; to make the stories simple and human to make them more accessible and applicable to our own lives.

The overall cohesiveness of these stories felt a bit hollow. With the exceptions of photographs and telephone calls, the characters never cross stories. I wonder if any of the actors in different stories ever met. Again, this may be part of the plan, an indication of just how tenuous these connections are.

There are some stunning visual moments in this film. It's simply but very well shot. The acting is generally superb. The characters are whole and real. I rarely make note of soundtracks, as I feel that they should be felt and not heard, but I loved the music of Babel. It was compelling and accentuated the film in a beautifully balanced fashion. (Turns out it won an Oscar. Seems I'm not the only one who thought so.)

This is one I'll have to see again to fully appreciate. It's a bit of a challenge, but is probably worth your time.

The Good: Great characterizations and acting.

The Bad: Not as cohesive as it could be.

The Ugly: Do you listen or wait to talk?