"Babel"

[Control-Z]

Real. Life.

Wow.

[SPKrazy]

1. Haven't Seen It Yet

hear it is pretty heavy though...

maybe I'll wait a bit to see it.

Heavy enough thank you very much right now.

:hi:

[Control-Z]

2. I found it to be honest

and uplifting - to see that someone gets it. The best movie I've seen in years.

[Lost-in-FL]

5. I thought it was "raw" and "dark"

because of the "difficulty" of the message it sends and how the author your "splatter" that message in our faces. It is about race and cultural differences that could create problems in society. Like you I thought it was an excellent movie, the best original movie I have seen in years. I cannot think of any movie like that one. It was like an "extra-strenght" version of "Crash".

[Control-Z]

8. "extra-strenght" version of "Crash"

and more urgently primal or primitive - if that makes any sense.

[Lost-in-FL]

13. Primal

The best way to describe it.

[Ava]

3. I watched Babel and didn't really like it

While the way they connect characters to one another is amazing(not as amazing as "Crash" though imo) and the movie is full of amazing performances(Brad Pitt had an oscar worthy performance), the movie is most definately a wtf? movie. Babel has several great story lines but all with flaws that I believe distract from the movie and the message it was trying to send. The movie touched on several controversial issues(immigration, terrorism, etc) but regardless of how much I wanted to like the movie, I was left at the end with "wtf?". The direction was wonderful, the basic plot was great, but the details were what left me thinking that the movie wasn't as great as it was hyped up to be. The Japanese deaf girl's character I felt could have been left out and the movie would have then been fine. I think if her story had been different or not in the movie it would have made a world of difference. While the actress who played the girl did a great job, her story was just.. well.. weird. I think her character would have been a great character if they had not focused so much on sex and instead what it is like being a deaf person in a world full of noise. The scenes from her perspective(silent) were great.

It's one of those movies that at the end you just aren't exactly what to think of it, lol. ;)

[Control-Z]

6. It felt as real to me

as any movie I've ever seen.

The deaf girl - I don't believe it was about her handicap as much as it was about her isolation, her inability to face the reality of the great loss in her life and her all too common method of trying to fill the void. That she had a loving father makes her one of the luckier ones.

[Ava]

9. i agree about the deaf girl - the point they were trying to get across

however i think they clouded it and messed it up by forcing too much about sex into the story. like i said the more honest and realistic scenes that were silent and from her point of view seemed to work better for me - and came off real instead of forced.

[Control-Z]

14. Sadly, the sexual part

of her character was the truest. A damaged young woman.

[Ava]

15. well to this young woman it wasn't

meh - oh well.. different strokes for different folks.

[Control-Z]

18. I am so happy that is wasn't

for you, Ava. It would make me terribly sad to think that you did understand this on a "personal" level. No woman ever should.

But, as difficult as it was to watch, it is the reality of far too many young women. Women from other countries and cultures - and women from here in our own America.

We usually only hear about heroic women - the ones who have beat the odds. The Helen Kellers of the world. But for every Helen there are countless women we don't hear about, who are doing their best with the hand they've been dealt. When the only decent cards a woman has to play are youth and sexuality...well, at best, we look the other way while she plays them and convince ourselves we would have played smarter.

The Titanic went down. It was hard to watch - but it was the truth.

[Lost-in-FL]

10. To me...

The Japanese girl character fitted right in. :shrug:

I can't wait to watch "Amores Perros", I heard it was excellent. It played in the Independent Film Channel 2 weeks ago and was only able to catch the last 10 minutes of it. The movies by this director are kinda crude.

[Control-Z]

25. Yes - I agree

I hate to admit how much understanding I had for her character. That I lost my mother under horrific circumstances, as a young girl, has probably everything to do with it.

So, I know nothing about "Amores Perros". Alejandro Gonzalez has earned my respect, though, with Babel. If "truth" = "crude" then I'm good with crude. Better than making jokes, imo. When does Amores Perros come out on DVD?

[Lost-in-FL]

38. It's been on DVD

The movie was released in 2000.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amores_Perros

[bigwillq]

45. I liked her story

the best of the four.

[mike_c]

4. I only got about 40 minutes into it before I turned it off....

I kept waiting for a clear plot or story line to emerge. There were obviously unifying threads in all the separate sub-stories, but no compelling narrative, at least not for me. I couldn't finish it. Vacuuming my carpet was more interesting, so that's what I did instead.

[Control-Z]

11. Isn't strange how two people can interpret

a movie so differently?

It was the clearest, most real movie I can remember.

[Deja Q]

7. The tower or the fish?

One is fictitious; the other was doomed, as is today's parallel known as "globalization", or at least it probably will, but I'm a pessimist and I digress...

[Control-Z]

27. HypnoToad

You lost me.

The tower or the fish? Huh?

Can you splain?

[dysfunctional press]

28. tower of babel(biblical), and babelfish(language translation webpage)

nt

[Control-Z]

30. Doh! n/t

[Deja Q]

39. Actually, the fictional linguistics translator fish from 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'

:D

[AlCzervik]

12. i saw 2 heavy movies last week so i need a break for awhile, i'm waiting for

The Queen, the last King of Scotland and Babel, i'm renting all 3 the week after next.

[Control-Z]

16. The Queen

was enjoyable. I haven't seen The Last King of Scotland. I hear it is pretty heavy.

[AlCzervik]

17. i have this morbid fascination with Idi Amin going back to childhood

my dad had this collection of books, one was on Jonestown, another called "Fast net Force 10" http://www.landfallnavigation.com/bo220.html that one terrified me and the one that really peaked my interest was on Amin, this book had picture and it was really horrifying.

[Control-Z]

19. I confess my

limited knowledge of or interest in Idi Amin. Based on your fascination, however, I will now make a point of seeing The Last King of Scotland. Fast net Force 10 sounds like something I would enjoy as well. (There is nothing better than a good read.) Now I'm holding you accountable. hehe :evilgrin:

[AlCzervik]

21. it really was a good book, another one in the vein of morbid fascination was

"Close to shore" it was about shark attacks, also true and a really quick read, i think i finished in a day. Any book with the sentence "The holy trinity of apex predators" catches my attention.
http://www.randomhouse.com/features/capuzzo/index.html#top

[underseasurveyor]

22. Last King of Scotland, yes see it.

Intense yes but without a whole lot of gratuitous graphic violence, but there is some of course. Forest Whitaker is absolutely brilliant in his portrayal of Idi Amin.

[AlCzervik]

23. i hate to say "I'm looking forward to seeing it" because of the subject matter

but i am indeed looking forward to seeing it.

[underseasurveyor]

26. There is nothing wrong with looking forward to seeing it

because of the subect matter even as horrible as it is. Look forward to the awareness it will bring. "All governements lie"

But I do get what you mean when you say you 'hate to look forward to seeing it'.

[Control-Z]

33. You know, I let other

people scare me off of this one. I'm glad to have the input.

[underseasurveyor]

36. I'm not one to watch intense movies exposing the graphic

horrors and truths of monster dictators. This movie concentrates mostly on the man, idi amin, and his huge ego driven, self serving manipulation of those around him. Very much like the dimson in the whitehouse now. Never the less I was riveted and on the edge of my seat from start to finish.

[Radio_Lady]

20. Really disliked "Babel" except for the cinematography.

My reasoning is on this February thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=6234056&mesg_id=6234069

[Control-Z]

32. It rang so true to me.

What parts of the movie were you unable to believe?

[Radio_Lady]

37. The biggest suspension of disbelief: Would a mother and father, who had recently lost a child --

leave children with a housekeeper and set out to travel the world?

Totally unbelievable!

For other comments, please read the various theatergoers who came up with RED or YELLOW ratings at www.metacritic.com

Here are just some of them:

The average user rating for this movie is 5.3 (out of 10) based on 381 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Chris B. gave it a 2:
This movie is not very good. It is amazing how much everyone seems to hate each other over their opinions about movies. Our lives have very little to do with anything that happened in this movie and our opinions of this film are an equally small insight into our intellectual value in the world. I suggest not watching this movie though. It is boring and unimporportant. There are a few memorable scenes, but they have virtually nothing to do with reality yet the movie seems to suggest that they are supposed to. I was mad about my lost two hours after it was over. Watch that Volkswagon commercial. Its thirty seconds and conveys the same point...only it is less boring.

Monica F. gave it a 2:
I see the thread that linked each character to the other but seriously I was bored whilst watching the movie - waiting for it to start only to have it end almost where it began and feeling a huge sense of frustration that THIS was a best picture nominee. To be honest I felt cheated. Acting was believeable - scenery shots wonderful - capturing Morocco very realistic....the story simply sucked.

Anthony W. gave it a 1:
Such plodding rubbish, apart from cinematography and performance of deaf-mute Japanese character, nothing to like about this film. What a con, worldview made for the Fox generation.

Bill S. gave it a 0:
Don't waste your time on this one. This is one bad film. First, a kid shoots a tourist by accident, ok I can buy that. The hubby goes bonkers because his wife got shot. Ok I can buy that. After that the movie is all down hill from there. This move is a 142 minute bore. Save your money buy a pizza instead.

Eric C. gave it a 0:
Wow. Two jerks back to back. Magdalena T. and Majed M., your ignorance is mindblowing. This movie isn't as depthful as you would like to think. The huge amounts of us who didn't like this trash are not "uneducated", and we're not mindless viewers. I completely understand what this movie tried to do, and yes, a world as chaotic as ours needs to be brought together and connected. But this movie failed so bad at doing this. The "connections" were ridiculous and insignifficant, horribly thought out. Stranger Than Fiction did a better job of this, and it was only a side note in that movie. The character studies were bad for the sole reason the characters were inhuman. Find me people like this. I challenge you. Kid in puberty turned on by his sister, deaf girl who desperately wants sex to "cope", nagging wife who just happens to get shot in a place she hates because of its exaggerated violent image (which is confirmed by her injury, completely ruining the point). Stop me when they stop sounding laughable. And sorry,Carl F., we don't have to be world weary travellers like you to "get" it. We all encounter racism from all around. We all happen to know about world affairs and cultures (I pride myself on it). And sorry, we're not all apart of the suburban culture. Crawl out of your little superiorority shell. You're not as special as you think. Sorry we haven't lived in your "developing country". We've been living in a decaying one. Go kiss a mirror or something, you seem way to proud of yourself. I'll just go to K-Mart and accessorise with Martha Stewart's latest, like I apparently should be doing. And all this is unimportant anyway. A crap movie is a crap movie. Nothing in the world could change that.

J R. gave it a 7:
I enjoyed this movie even though I thought I'd hate it because it would be like seeing Crash again. I found all the characters and their performences very entertaining. I could also name 100 flaws with Babel but its best to just exept it for what it is.

H C. gave it a 5:
First off, insulting people who "don't get it" as Carl F. did is so ironic it's almost pitiful. Carl F. sounds terribly upset over something that has nothing to do with a movie called "Babel". I don't think this movie was horrible --however I did think it was so overtly contrived I couldn't rate it past a five. I "get" what the director did and I don't think it worked that well . Certain performances really shone through the horribly didactic 'plot'--the japanese deaf-mute especially, as well as a key scene between Pitt and Blanchette. The director of photography and the person who did the score were first rate--probably the most successful things about "Babel". however, rest assured, if you liked Babel, I will not insult you or think you an idiot.

Thanks!

[underseasurveyor]

24. I really liked Babel

Yea wow is right.

[Control-Z]

31. Your sig pic says it all (eom)

[underseasurveyor]

35. It's my favorite quote above all

As human beings we all want these things no matter where in the world we live, no matter the color of our skin or the language we speak.

[dysfunctional press]

29. it really didn't do much for me...

and i definitely don't think that it belonged in the 'best picture' category at the oscars.

[Control-Z]

34. Did you like "Little Miss Sunshine"?

Most people did but I really hated it.

[dysfunctional press]

41. i liked it...

but not enough to nominate it for the best picture category.

[crim son]

40. Yep.

I posted something similar last week and it got a mixed reception, but I was blown away by everything that was going on in that film.

[Redbear]

42. I just saw Babel this weekend and I agree with you. Very good film

To me, the film was about two relationships where people re-connected after tragedy (Chieko and her Dad and Richard and Susan) and two relationships where bad choices destroyed the relationships (Ahmed and Yusef and Amelia and the children).

[SarahB]

43. Maybe I'm becoming a film snob.

I thought it was realism, yes, but what was the point in the end? It didn't open my progressive eyes anymore than they were. I think it could perhaps be more effective towards the politically apathetic, multiculturally unaware, and those who've had little or no exposure to those with disabilities. I'm none of these. Still, it was a finely filmed movie with a good script. I guess it just didn't hit me. I liked it, but it didn't get me in the gut.

[bigwillq]

44. I loved it.

Thought it was the best movie I've seen last year, although I didn't see too many. Thought it was beautifully filmed, great acting, directing.

I like movies told in the manner it was told.


Just a terrific film, imo. Thought it should've won Best Picture and Best Director.

[Little Wing]

46. CRAP.

:)