Review of Babel

In the tradition of great movies like Syriana and The Hours, Babel weaves 4 seemingly unrelated stories in four different languages together into a pretty good tapestry. While each of the stories explore a type of communication (or lack thereof) between different relationships (father and daughter, husband and wife, etc.) very well, when put together, I felt the movie was missing the "magic" that made Syriana and The Hours great movies. Maybe it was because one of the stories was so tenuously linked to the other three, or maybe it was because of the jarring transitions between the stories before a scene comes to a conclusion? I cannot answer these questions definitively, and will have to let the movie goers decide for themselves.

Acting wise, all the actors in the movie were very good (Brad Pitt taking a George Clooney-esquire turn a la Syriana). The most heartbreaking story focused on a deaf-mute Japanese girl's struggles, and the actress there was superb. I will not spoil the movie for everyone, but that story alone is worth the ticket.

While I personally don't believe this to be one of the best movies of the year, I do think people should see it for the cultural issues it discusses. It takes a look at the immigration issues of the US, as well as the "terrorist" stigma many Islamic countries are branded by the US. Check it out, it's a very intelligent movie that everyone should catch.