Babel R

If You Want to be Understood...Listen
694K ratings
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Format:  DVD
item number:  6G3A3
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Babel (Blu-ray) for $12.60
Also released as:
Babel for $16.10
Babel for $21.50

DVD Details

  • Rated: R
  • Run Time: 2 hours, 23 minutes
  • Video: Color
  • Encoding: Region 1 (USA & Canada)
  • Released: October 10, 2017
  • Originally Released: 2006
  • Label: Paramount

Performers, Cast and Crew:

Starring , , , , &
Performer: , , , , , &
Directed by
Edited by &
Screenwriting by
Composition by
Produced by , &
Director of Photography:

Major Awards:

Academy Awards 2006 - Best Original Score: Gustavo Santaolalla

Entertainment Reviews:

Fresh69%

TOMATOMETER
Total Count: 199

Upright77%

AUDIENCE SCORE
User Ratings: 377,210
Ranked #5 in Rolling Stone's The 10 Best Movies Of 2006 -- [A]s the film builds to a shattering climax, you'll be in an emotional grip that won't let go.
Rolling Stone
Dec 28, 2006
4 stars out of 4 -- In the year's richest, most complex and ultimately most heartbreaking film, Inarritu invites us to get past the babble of modern civilization and start listening to each other.
Rolling Stone
Nov 2, 2006
4 stars out of 5 -- Each piece in the puzzle unfolds at a thrilling velocity, events spiralling out of control in a whirlwind of rash judgements, linguistic barriers and sheer bad luck.
Total Film
Feb 1, 2007
BABEL is certainly an experience....The sheer reckless ardor of Mr. Gonzalez Inarritu's filmmaking -- the voracious close-ups, the sweeping landscape shots, the swiveling, hurtling camera movements -- suggests a virtually limitless confidence in the power of the medium...
New York Times
Oct 27, 2006
Rating: 4/5 -- Director Alejandro González Iñárritu and writer Guillermo Arriaga have fashioned their ideas with conviction and obvious care. Full Review
JWR
Jun 30, 2009
Rating: 2/5 -- An irredeemably overdetermined, far-fetched and transparently schematic piece. Full Review
Patrick Nabarro
Dec 2, 2018
Rating: 2/5 -- Well acted and handsomely photographed, but still extraordinarily overpraised and overblown, a middlebrow piece of near-nonsense: the kind of self-conscious arthouse cinema that is custom-tailored and machine-tooled for the dinner-party demographic. Full Review
Guardian
Jan 20, 2007

Product Description:

BABEL is the crowning achievement in the trilogy from the unstoppable creative pairing of screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga and director Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu, which also includes AMORES PERROS (2000) and 21 GRAMS (2003). Building upon its predecessors' method of weaving together disparate storylines, BABEL reaches new heights of ambition with a tale that, in the absence of traditional narrative and protagonist, relies on numerous incredible performances to evoke an affecting relevance by framing contemporary issues in very human struggles and mistakes. Richard and Susan (Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett) are a wealthy couple from San Diego who are vacationing in Morocco in order to heal after the death of their young child; their other two children are at home with their Mexican maid, Amelia (Adriana Barraza). In a complex shift of ownership to which the audience is privy, a rifle finds its way into the hands of a local herdsman's young sons (Said Tarchani and Boubker Ait El Caid), who recklessly take a shot at a tour bus and catch Susan in the shoulder, causing her to nearly lose her life. The distraught Richard calls home to tell Amelia of the situation, who promptly departs for Mexico to attend her child's wedding, with Richard and Susan's children in tow. Disaster thus multiplies, with the situation in Morocco ascribed to terrorists in the media, while Amelia meets with the harsh immigration policies of the Bush administration. Meanwhile, in Tokyo, a widower (Koji Yakusho) tied to the rifle in question attempts to deal with his memories and his raucous, promiscuous, deaf daughter (Rinko Kikuchi).

Nearly every performance of the film is devastating, offering an intimate, emotional experience that would approach melodrama if it weren't rendered so realistically. Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto's color palette masterfully captures the muted tones of the harsh natural landscapes of Morocco and the Mexican border, as well as the fluorescent lights of Tokyo that denote another, though equally barren, end of the spectrum. The misunderstandings born of cultural, language, and class barriers are on par with those that occur between family members, depicting a world that, while connected in the least expected of ways, is also faced with a deep-seated crisis that threatens to alienate humanity from itself.

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Product Info

  • UPC: 032429256386
  • Shipping Weight: 0.25/lbs (approx)
  • International Shipping: 1 item

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