babel review

last week, a friend and I went to see "babel", the new film by alejandro gonzalez inarritu (director of 21 grams and amores perros), which stars brad pitt, cate blanchett, gael garcia bernal amongst others.

the film is absolutely gorgeous from beginning to end...inarritu's use of lenses and colour would make any filmmaker jealous, not to mention the incredible editing. the film is divided into three stories: one in morocco, one in japan, and one in mexico. I definitely won't go into any spoilerish details - but one thing to note is that inarritu likes to work with big themes rather than in depth character development. he calls himself a "realist" - what he does best is to portray the desperate reality of our everyday lives.

to me, the movie was all about desperation. what do we do when we are caught at our wit's end? do we cry out for help hoping that someone will answer or do we choose to simply rebel?
another "big thought" is one of isolation...are we so disconnected as a society that we are no longer able to communicate with one another? are we so isolated that even death can no longer unite us or stir compassion in us?

the beauty of the film is that innaritu is able to capture that desperation and isolation in the cinematography, editing, and sound of the film. he's always been one to use interweaving storylines to get his point across...and I think he does it well here. the sometimes "choppy" pasting of storylines, and the often seamless weaving of them perhaps represent our relationship with one another as strangers who are caught in the same frustration.

after watching the interview with inarritu, cuaron, and del toro (all mexican directors making it big in hollywood) on charlie rose, I found out that the film is also about the relationship between parents and children. perhaps that is a microcosm of how we are disconnected with one another as a society:we are so afraid to love...and too often forget how to.

the one big flaw with "babel" is that it never quite weaves all the stories together into a coherent conclusion. maybe this is a statement in itself...but how it ends certainly leaves the audience wanting. there are moments where the film staggers us emotionally...leaving you holding your breath...but it never does so in such a way that fully captivates you (and it's unfortunate that one thinks of "crash" often during this film - which successfully weaves storylines). however, I stand by the fact that this movie is a must-see=) innaritu continues to impress and astound...it's a worthy conclusion to his trilogy.