that movie was awful
everyone compares it to Crash (which many fans of the director's work point out is unfair), which also was a big love-it-or-hate-it film, and i'll explain the reasons why i enjoyed Crash and hated Babel. it all has to do with suffering.
i won't get into whether the racial issues portrayed in Crash are correct or even relevant, but as far as a story, or more importantly, a set of stories that were tied together, i found it to be very enthralling. each character was thrown into a situation where they suffered. but their suffering was either brought on by their actions, or at least their responses were defined by their character's background and experiences. even though they were unfairly suffering, their suffering had meaning. they learn something from their experiences, both the characters suffering and the characters causing the suffering
in Babel, the characters suffer just to suffer. they're thrown into these unimaginable situations, and there's not even anything to learn from it. i understand the point of Babel, which is completely summed up by the title of the film, but the suffering endured by the characters have absolutely nothing to do with the miscommunication (or lack thereof) of the characters (perhaps the only exception is the Japanese daughter, but there's so much ambiguity as to whether the cause of her alienation is being deaf, the death of her mother, or simply the disconnect with her father)
but their suffering is caused by random acts of chaos, and its not brought on by their own faults or actions. although the overtly sexual Japanese girl brings on a lot of her own suffering from the events we witness during the film, none of those actions or events are really at the heart of the story, but more of her reaction to the random chaos in her life. that's why this film was so unbelievable to me, it was all the random chaotic events
a broken marriage due to a sudden loss of a child...and they travel to Morocco with no explanation, and the only detail we see is that they finally confront each other on the fact that they're not communicating? why travel to Morocco then, and leave your two children behind? and the Spanish babysitter, although it's arguably a poor decision to take the children to Mexico, it's not even that ridiculous of a notion. a complete random act of chaos puts her and the children through absolute horrific and needless suffering, with no understanding or knowledge gained from the experience. the Moroccan children? i don't even know where to begin with them. their trial is only brought about by the ignorant acts of children, and a completely overdramatic story which leads to a completely horrific and unnecessary end. no knowledge or understanding is gained by this ending. the Japanese girl's story is perhaps the only one where I can see that there is something to learn, but it's so weird and overly chaotic that I have trouble following it, and it has absolutely no other tie to the rest of the movie. the connection by the father's rifle is laughable and again so absolutely unnecessary that i would have actually enjoyed this segment of the story more if they had left out any connection to the other story whatsoever. instead, i just end up walking away wondering why i wasted two and a half hours to watch so much suffering and learn absolutely nothing from it. only the characters within the filmed learned less than i did from the experiences they encountered in the film. and their ties by coincidence are so forced that the only conclusion i can get out of Babel is that it is an elaborate and melodramatic torture device devised by the director and writer to drive home a point at the expense of the characters.
the point is supposed to be the lack of human communication and the suffering it causes, but none of the events in the movie are caused by miscommunication. only by absolute random chaos.
other than that, the cinematography was kind of pretty and the editing would have been ok if there could have been any linearity to it.
everyone compares it to Crash (which many fans of the director's work point out is unfair), which also was a big love-it-or-hate-it film, and i'll explain the reasons why i enjoyed Crash and hated Babel. it all has to do with suffering.
i won't get into whether the racial issues portrayed in Crash are correct or even relevant, but as far as a story, or more importantly, a set of stories that were tied together, i found it to be very enthralling. each character was thrown into a situation where they suffered. but their suffering was either brought on by their actions, or at least their responses were defined by their character's background and experiences. even though they were unfairly suffering, their suffering had meaning. they learn something from their experiences, both the characters suffering and the characters causing the suffering
in Babel, the characters suffer just to suffer. they're thrown into these unimaginable situations, and there's not even anything to learn from it. i understand the point of Babel, which is completely summed up by the title of the film, but the suffering endured by the characters have absolutely nothing to do with the miscommunication (or lack thereof) of the characters (perhaps the only exception is the Japanese daughter, but there's so much ambiguity as to whether the cause of her alienation is being deaf, the death of her mother, or simply the disconnect with her father)
but their suffering is caused by random acts of chaos, and its not brought on by their own faults or actions. although the overtly sexual Japanese girl brings on a lot of her own suffering from the events we witness during the film, none of those actions or events are really at the heart of the story, but more of her reaction to the random chaos in her life. that's why this film was so unbelievable to me, it was all the random chaotic events
a broken marriage due to a sudden loss of a child...and they travel to Morocco with no explanation, and the only detail we see is that they finally confront each other on the fact that they're not communicating? why travel to Morocco then, and leave your two children behind? and the Spanish babysitter, although it's arguably a poor decision to take the children to Mexico, it's not even that ridiculous of a notion. a complete random act of chaos puts her and the children through absolute horrific and needless suffering, with no understanding or knowledge gained from the experience. the Moroccan children? i don't even know where to begin with them. their trial is only brought about by the ignorant acts of children, and a completely overdramatic story which leads to a completely horrific and unnecessary end. no knowledge or understanding is gained by this ending. the Japanese girl's story is perhaps the only one where I can see that there is something to learn, but it's so weird and overly chaotic that I have trouble following it, and it has absolutely no other tie to the rest of the movie. the connection by the father's rifle is laughable and again so absolutely unnecessary that i would have actually enjoyed this segment of the story more if they had left out any connection to the other story whatsoever. instead, i just end up walking away wondering why i wasted two and a half hours to watch so much suffering and learn absolutely nothing from it. only the characters within the filmed learned less than i did from the experiences they encountered in the film. and their ties by coincidence are so forced that the only conclusion i can get out of Babel is that it is an elaborate and melodramatic torture device devised by the director and writer to drive home a point at the expense of the characters.
the point is supposed to be the lack of human communication and the suffering it causes, but none of the events in the movie are caused by miscommunication. only by absolute random chaos.
other than that, the cinematography was kind of pretty and the editing would have been ok if there could have been any linearity to it.
