WARNING: If you're allergic to puns or metaphors, do not read this.
I pretty much do not go to see a movie unless I've done thorough research and my favorite reviewers (that would be Rolling Stone's Peter Travers and The New York Times' A.O. Scott) agree on certain fundamental elements -- i.e. that the film is "good."
AOL's Movie Phone site gives an aggregate score: http://movies.aol.com/movie/babel-2006/25148/reviews . If this score is above eighty, I am game for the film - unless Travers or Scott have given low scores. If the aggregate score is over 85 and T and S only give mediocre reviews, I still might consider purchasing a ticket.
The long and short of this is that tonight, I checked out Babel on-line and it had extraordinary reviews from both Travers (100) and Scott (80) -- ummm... the scores being out of one hundred but you probably figured that out. The aggregate was only 73 but since my favorite reviewers were drooling all over it, I felt it was a sure thing. Plus, I loved Amores Perros - by the same director.
This is not a spoiler so I'm not going to give plot-points away - just vagueries that might save others from the disappointment I experienced tonight.
On a metaphoric level, Babel, is meaningful and complex. Just like the Tower of Babel, we (the people of this f'd up world) are all mired in the miseries and drama of miscommunication and misunderstandings of our relationships - interpersonal, cultural and otherwise. When I saw this film, however, I was thinking of a different word: BABBLE. As in, it went on and on and said absolutely nothing. "... A tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury, signifying nothing..." Not that the director, Alejandro Inarritu, is an idiot.
Admittedly, the cinematography was beautiful and the intricacies of the various characters' lives and their intersections were thoughtful and dynamic. Inarritu highlights the paranoia that results from misguided assumptions. He shifts seamlessly from the selfishness of American tourists in Morocco to the trigger-mentality of US border control to the alternating love and terror of youthful sexuality.
The most captivating portion of the film focuses on a deaf-mute Japanese teenager who is desperate for affection as well as devastation. It is her character who best conveys the dangers of human distance and miscommunication. In fact, the entire film might have focused on this one plot line and been successful. At its core, however, Babel says about as much as the desperate, deaf girl.
Brooks may babble constantly but if you sit waiting for them to explain their sound effects, you're going to be disappointed. The same goes for this movie. There's a lot of self-important hammering and hammering but none of the hammering hammers anything home.
Okay, I'm almost done with the metaphors but... Inarritu attempts to rebuild the Tower of Babel itself and only ends up with a pile of sand (of which you'll see a lot).
Not to mention the fact that Babel completely misrepresents itself in promotion: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and Gael Garcia Bernal are barely in the film.
Sure, some audiences might call it poignant or thought-provoking, but I thought the movie was depressing and thoughtless. It's like when you're excited to meet a best friend you haven't seen in a long time and have a glass of wine and meaningful conversation. But then she shows up totally smashed and the entire evening is spent talking about what her boyfriend meant when he said he "needed space."
Speaking of meaning (wow! what a Meredith Vieira transition that was), most of the film, I was angsting over just what I should think the 'rifle' signifies. After all, a cigar is never just a cigar. But in Babel, I think the rifle was just a rifle. The movie shows that guns are bad, can kill and destroy people's lives etc. but I think we already knew that.
The best part of the film is the closing credits. Apparently, Babel was based on an "idea." I'd pay a million dollars to sit in on the meeting where that 'idea' was pitched. You'll understand when you see it (if you choose to). But it would be akin to condensing War and Peace into five words. Or less.
