| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Demisemicenturian |
Posted - 01/26/2007 : 17:45:37
Babel
I thought this would be a lot better, especially as I really love films with various interconnected stories and I find linguistic issues interesting. It was still good, but I didn't find it to be anything that special, as correct as it was in its comment on people's treatment of other people. I also naturally thought that the point of it would be strife coming from misunderstandings of language, but this is not the case. It comes from differences of culture. There are a small number of cases where communication problems cause frustrations, but they do not drive any of the significant conflicts. |
| 8 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| demonic |
Posted - 02/12/2007 : 17:10:35
Finally caught up with this one yesterday. I liked it well enough -it's expertly shot and the building tension was excellent I thought. And the two party scenes (the Mexican wedding, the Toyko nightclub) were brilliantly kinetic; more than I can think of other recent examples. Top cinematography and editing there.
It was a disappointment in many ways though - mainly through the tenuous links of the three stories and their variable quality. Apart from the Toyko story there was nothing we hadn't seen before in countless other films.
The other thing that has stuck in my mind, and I wonder if anyone else feels the same way - I think the title is completely misleading. As written above, the story wasn't really about the misunderstandings springing from language boundaries at all - and it only occurred to me seeing the dedication at the very end that the whole film is actually about parents and children - every story is explictly concerned with that connection. I think "Babel" is an inappropriate title given that perspective. |
| Demisemicenturian |
Posted - 02/08/2007 : 11:50:21
quote:
Originally posted by turrell
thats like saying that Brokeback Mountain tells us nothing because its pretty obvious that being homosexual in the 50's in the cowboy culture would be pretty tough.
I forgot to say before that this is not why I think that film is so good. I am sure that being gay then and there was not completely easy, but it's not exactly right up there in the history of human struggles. The reason is simply that it is the only representation of love that I have been convinced by on film. Since love is the most important thing in human life, it's the most important thing in film I.M.O. |
| Demisemicenturian |
Posted - 02/05/2007 : 10:51:03
Yes, it was certainly realistically portrayed, especially with regard to the boy's adverse reaction. |
| turrell |
Posted - 02/04/2007 : 19:28:20
quote:
Originally posted by Salopian
... it is completely obvious that young deaf people are often isolated in this way - the film does not tell us anything.
It tells us nothing new - but it demonstrates the pain and frustration that must be felt - thats like saying that Brokeback Mountain tells us nothing because its pretty obvious that being homosexual in the 50's in the cowboy culture would be pretty tough. Its not so much that this is a revelation, rather it was well told and allowed me to not only emphasize, but understand it from her perspective. |
| Paddy C |
Posted - 02/04/2007 : 17:32:44
quote:
Originally posted by turrell
Its not as dark as 21 grams but as a parent of young children this movie was one of the most frightening things I have ever seen. I liked it more than Sal and I do think that language was a major theme in the film and language and culture are so inter-related its hard to separte them in some instances. I especially liked the story line of the deaf girl in Japan - they showed you in an instant how hard that must be, especially for a teenager and how that lack of sel-confidence can have destructive effects. (but the topper of the movie is the border crossing scene and I won't spoil it here, but as a parent I cannot tell you how much that horrified me).
Saw this one last week, and while I share Sal's sentiments about it not being great, I'd agree with turell about the Japanese story being very good. Strangely, the best stories were the subtitled ones.. I wasn't as drawn into Brad and Cate's problem as the one faced by the two Moroccan kids for example.
The mexican au pair's story wasn't as engaging for me though. I just thought her decisions were consistently bad, and the story was melodramatic.
7/10 for me. More-than-four-word review here. |
| Demisemicenturian |
Posted - 01/26/2007 : 23:22:18
quote:
Originally posted by turrell
I liked it more than Sal
I liked it fine. I was just led to believe that it was better.
quote:
I do think that language was a major theme in the film and language and culture are so inter-related its hard to separte them in some instances.
It's not too hard to separate them here, though. Language does not really cause the problems. Everyone makes themselves understood after a couple of seconds of frustration. I don't want to give examples as they could spoil it.
quote:
I especially liked the story line of the deaf girl in Japan - they showed you in an instant how hard that must be, especially for a teenager and how that lack of sel-confidence can have destructive effects.
This is the main instance, but it is completely obvious that young deaf people are often isolated in this way - the film does not tell us anything. Sign language also does not fall within the Tower of Babel concept, so that means that any message there might have been that it would be nice if we all had the same tongue could not be present.
quote:
(but the topper of the movie is the border crossing scene and I won't spoil it here, but as a parent I cannot tell you how much that horrified me).
Interesting. The children seemed fine to me and I took for granted that all of one's sympathies should be with the woman. |
| turrell |
Posted - 01/26/2007 : 21:53:16
Its not as dark as 21 grams but as a parent of young children this movie was one of the most frightening things I have ever seen. I liked it more than Sal and I do think that language was a major theme in the film and language and culture are so inter-related its hard to separte them in some instances. I especially liked the story line of the deaf girl in Japan - they showed you in an instant how hard that must be, especially for a teenager and how that lack of sel-confidence can have destructive effects. (but the topper of the movie is the border crossing scene and I won't spoil it here, but as a parent I cannot tell you how much that horrified me). |
| Paddy C |
Posted - 01/26/2007 : 19:17:54
Will probably go see this one, but it's getting mixed enough reviews.. I'm doing a masters dissertation on cultural differences over the next year or so, so am finding it difficult to ignore this movie!
As long as it's not as dark as '21 Grams'" |
