.5 PB JarsBabel will fall a far cry from my top movies of 2006. Long, boring and self important, Babel neither enlightened nor entertained. By the end of the film’s excruciating 143 minutes, I had a headache from being repeatingly beaten with the notion that this was something important, something grand, something dramatically original that I need to pay attention to. The cinematography and music are beautiful, but too often they served as grandiloquent filler for scenes that lacked a real emotional impact. The only self-consciously artsy sequence that I felt actually served its purpose was the clubbing scene, where we gain some insight into the irony of a deaf-mute Japanese teenager’s loneliness in a city overwhelmed by sensory stimulation.
Ultimately, all I gleaned from Babel is that stupidity is not restrained by geography. Human beings make equally f’d up decisions regardless of the country they live in, language they speak, or number of people they’ve slept with. I really did not feel an ounce of compassion for any of these exaggerated caricatures that Babel calls characters. I could have cared less if any of them lived or died. Every character is the victim of their own ignorance or poor judgment and, for the most part, gets what they deserve. Even the lovelorn deaf-mute teenager, a character that should be tugging at my heartstrings, comes across like an annoyingly oversexed angst-ridden high school student. The transparently manipulative plot device of making her character a deaf-mute doesn’t do nearly enough to elicit my compassion. I would have far preferred the film to actually give her character some depth.
For visually stunning and thematically superior commentaries on the struggles of communication in a multicultural world, check out Ron Fricke’s Baraka or Godfrey Reggio’s Koyaanisqatsi. Each film deals with many of Babel’s themes, but does not dilute them with poorly constructed dialogue or plot. (Both are purely visual cinematic experiences) Or, for a simplified and less time consuming experience, just listen to Coldplay’s “Talk”.
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2 comments:
B, great post, but I have a quick question.
Why is it ironic that the deaf-mute felt lonely in a city overwhelmed by sensory stimulation? I haven't seen the movie, so I may not understand the context, but wouldn't you expect most deaf-mutes to feel forlorn in such surroundings?
valid point.
i would counter that being a deaf-mute only eliminates one of the five senses. in a city like tokyo there is so much sensory stimulation for sight, smell, taste and touch. during the film, we see Chieko engage with all of these other senses, constantly interacting with her friends (often by touch), eating at restaurants, commenting on smells, playing video games, etc. etc. Chieko is certainly not alone in her condition, nor is she removed from the sensory overload of the city. irony is the incongruity between expected reality and actual reality. Chieko's expected reality is basically that she will get laid (sorry, despite the best efforts of heavy acting and impressive cinematography, it doesn't get much deeper than that - one of my many issues with the film). the clubbing scene vividly demonstrates the incongrutiy between Chieko's expectation and the actual reality that the guy she wants to nail is hooking up on the dance floor with her best friend (also deaf). audio-visually, the scene contributes towards this incongruity by cutting the sound in and out amidst lasers and strobe lights. this allows the viewer to experience Chieko's progression from the idealized reality through the sensory stimulation of the lights and dancing, to her actual reality of alienation and abandonment when her friend starts getting it on with the guy of her dreams.
i think i had some other points to make, but this is already likely the longest comment post in the history of comment posts... so, see the movie for yourself and let me know if you agree or disagree. or, don't see the movie and save yourself a 2.5 hour waste of time.
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