Review of Babel (2006) by Dans. — 16 Nov 2006

This film was amateurish. If the makers of it bother to read user reviews (which I seriously doubt, based on their self-indulgent attitude, evident from the film), let me explain something to you. For a story to work, character behavior must be BELIEVABLE to the audience, which means the characters must be PROPERLY MOTIVATED.

You can't make characters do things just because it's "cool" or would make a good scene. [***SPOILER***] For example, two little boys raised in a strict Muslim family do not suddenly decide to shoot a rifle at a passing tourist bus.

Shy, deaf teenage girls do not suddenly decide to take off their panties and shoot beavers at the guys making fun of them in the school cafeteria. Nor do they take off all their clothes and throw themselves at police detectives, who also do not hang around with naked underage girls in the middle of the night at the girl's rich father's swanky apartment, when the father might come home (and does so) at any second.

..not to mention that when a father comes home and finds his teenage daugther standing out on the balcony completely nude walk out and embrace the girl--he says "Put on some clothes and come inside.

" Mexican women who've been illegally living in the USA for 16 years do not suddenly decide to go back to Mexico for her son's wedding with no idea how to get back inside the States. I could go on, but it would take pages to do so.

If the badly motivated, unbelievable character actions weren't bad enough, we're supposed to believe that the Bradd Pitt character just happens to be the unluckiest bastard ever born on earth.

Not only does his wife get randomly shot while on vacation, his idiot housekeeper decides to illlegally take his two little children out of the country! Do you think we, too, as viewers and ticket purchasers, are idiots? On top of all this, the film consists of three stories that might have been good in their own right had they been developed more.

But instead of doing that (that would be too hard--you would have to THINK), you do a superficial job on all three and then toss them together hoping that the final result will somehow improve things.

It doesn't, it makes it worse. For example, we, as viewers, wonder what the hell the third story about the cute Japanese schoolgirl who so enjoys shooting beavers and getting naked had to do with the price of eggs in New Delhi.

I suspect that the filmmakers get off on cute Japanese schoolgirls who so enjoy shooting beavers and getting naked--that is the only explanation for the inclusion of this story into the film. [***END SPOILER***] Next time you make a movie and expect intelligent moviegoers to pay for a ticket, please show us a little respect.

And show yourself some respect. Now, having said all that, I would like to compliment the director of photography--you are the only one of the group who knows what you are doing.