Babel? Babel you say?

Emotion. The power of emotion. Emotion means so much more than words, pictures, voices. Emotion can symbolize a person's pain, love, hate and more. Babel is full of emotion. It is full of powerful images. Babel is one the year's best films because it captures emotion and it's strength over words, like no other film ever before.

Babel is one of those films that has interconnected stories. It was directed by the same man who did 21 Grams and is made in the style of Traffic and Syriana. The story jumps back and forth giving you different perspectives and points of view. Each point of view is different and offers a subplot that is connected to the main plot in some way or another. Needless to say, the script is very well done since writing something like this can prove to be difficult. Read on.

The main idea of this story is that emotion is stronger than words. This is supplemented by the fact that more than 80 percent of the movie is in a foreign language. One point of view is in Mexican, another in Japanese, another in English, another in Middle Eastern and the last in sign language. To make a long story short...you'll be reading a lot. However this doesn't take away from the experience which will totally encompass you.

Since I have four reviews in this update, I'll try to keep things small. :P

The settings in the movie are also very well done and were shot on location and in the native language - something that took the film crew the most time to get done. Morocco, Mexico, California and Japan. No matter what language the scenes use, the film proves it's point. Emotion is stronger than words.

One Japanese teenager struggles to find herself. She is deaf and mute. She has friends and a loving father but after the death of mother she has never been the same. People look at her and her friends, also deaf and mute, as monsters. The girl can no longer take it, gets involved wit the wrong people and makes unwise choices. Her mindset leads her to believe the wrong things and it is through this barrier, this border or barbed wire fence that she must find herself. Ironic that words cannot describe her story. This is just one of the four stories the film weaves together.

Another aspect of the movie is the sound. Obviously, with such a thought-provoking plot, you'd like proactive music. That's what you get. As you watch people cry, laugh, and talk, you will hear exotic sounds and musics that are relevant to the situation. Whether it is a Mexican band playing during a party, or a Spanish lullaby playing at the credits, the music makes the movie that much better.

Fossick doesn't think you came here to read about the music though. The acting is the key to this film and let me tell you, it's superb.
Finally Brad Pitt has done a movie where he looks like a man and acts like a man. I'm not trying to say that he's a bad actor but in this movie he'll appeal to men because he's a man's man and you don't have to hate him for getting the girl in the movie...Anyways...

The acting is done very well. It takes the movie to new heights and blends the other elements of the film perfectly. Most of Babel is somber and reflective; Making the audience think. But when things get sad and you want to cry, the actors cry. If you're mad at the guy at screen, the actors are too. What I'm trying to say is that the acting is real. These actors look like real men and women who have lost loved ones, are trying to find themselves or are struggling with a problem they have no control over. You feel for them. This is what all acting should be like. The cast doesn't use any tongue in cheek laughs or cliches. They act naturally as a person would under their circumstances. No wonder Babel was nominated for Best Picture. Well, it had great cinematography too...if you're into that kind of thing.

The photography, art direction and cinematography was executed excellently. As the camera shifts from the rising sun to a dried bushman's face...you are captured. Some might even say it's mesmerizing. I wouldn't argue with them.

In the end, Babel is one of the best motion pictures of the year, capturing beauty, pain, emotion and language like never before. Conflicts arise. Regular humans face these conflicts without proper solutions. You will be taken by the story, shocked by the plot twists and captivated by the sheer idea of the film. If you are intellectual person looking for a great movie with a powerful message, look no further.

9.1 Kangawoos

DETAILS:

Directed by	Alejandro González Iñárritu
Produced by	Steve Golin Jon Kilik
Written by	Guillermo Arriaga
Starring	Brad Pitt Cate Blanchett Gael García Bernal Kôji Yakusho Adriana Barraza Rinko Kikuchi
Music by	Gustavo Santaolalla
Distributed by	Paramount Vantage
Release date(s)	November 10, 2006
Running time	142 min.
Country	Mexico/USA/France
Language	English Spanish Arabic French Japanese Japanese Sign Language Berber
Budget	$25 million USD (estimated)