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BABEL

With Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Mohamed Akhzam, Gael García Bernal, Adriana Barraza, Elle Fanning, Nathan Gamble, Clifton Collins Jr., Michael Peña, Mustapha Amhita, Jamie McBride, Harriet Walter, Peter Wight, Sanae Miura, Satoshi Nikaido, Kazunori Tozawa, Shinji Suzuki

Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu

One cannot help but find parallels between Babel and Robert Altman’s brilliant Short Cuts (and the more recent award winning Crash). Several stories around the globe from the US and Mexico to the Middle East and Japan intersect when an American tourist is shot. This technique was also used highly effectively by the director in his 2000 film Amores Perros (Love’s A Bitch). Saying too much about Babel would be spoiling a great deal of what makes the movie so intriguing, although its intent is not a big secretive punch line, but the individual lives depicted in crisis. With so many cultures and languages on the planet, a seemingly unaffected action or event at one end of the globe can have tremendous repercussions. Iñárritu wrestles maximum passion from the actors and situations to create a stunning chunk of social commentary, showing us yet again that people are people and fragile at that, and we are all part of the whole.

5 / B
- PB


1 2 3 4 5 6
A - B - C



6 - Volcanic
5 - Blistering
4 - Hot
3 - Smolder
2 - Room Temp.
1 - Fizzled
0 - Extinguished

A: Multiple Viewing Potential
B: Deserves Another Look
C: Once Should Suffice

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