Babel details

Babel
Formats: 15 DVD, Blu-ray
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Brad Pitt, Gael Garcia Bernal, Koji Yakusho, Adriana Barraza, Rinko Kikuchi
Directors: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Genre: Drama - General
Studio: PARAMOUNT
Collections: Top 400 All-Time Rentals
Name Discs
Babel
15 Feature

DVD Information

Run time: 2 hours 22 minutes
Rental release: 21 May 2007
Main languages: English
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LOVEFiLM Review Babel

  • 3 stars out of 5  

    By Tom Charity from LOVEFiLM

    Tragedy strikes a married couple on holiday in the Moroccan desert which subsequently involves four different families.

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Most helpful review Babel

  • Painful but amazing

    Rated - 5.0 stars  
    By flower (38 reviews) from Hove , 17 Nov 2006

    [Highly rated reviewer]

    I urge everyone to go see this film - at the cinema if possible - to be part of the incredible emotional journey this movie takes you on. The film is composed of three concurrent storylines set in three different locations: Morocco, Japan and Mexico. The stories are formed like one photograph that has been ripped into three and then pasted back together in crooked fashion - the points of connection make an incredible, indelible impact on you. Notable performances for me are those of Brad Pitt, Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi and the young goat herder Boubker Ait El Caid, all victims of the mysteries of small, but significant moments of chance. This is a tapestry of emotion and how a moment in time can change everything. It's heartbreaking and painful - but ultimately a great and thought-provoking journey.
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All reviews

(816)
  • Ok watchable average film.

    Rated - 2.5 stars  
    By Bobsview (549 reviews) from Gloucestershire , 20 Feb 2013
    Pretentious but watchable vaguely interwoven tale of 3 stories in 1 linked by boy shooting at tourist bus with his fathers rifle in Morocco. Also a young virgin in Tokyo and nanny taking children to wedding in mexico. good cast. Cate Blanchet.
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  • Brad Pitt is pants

    Rated - 4.0 stars  
    By Oozoid (59 reviews) from Ayr , 05 Jan 2013
    I would have given this five stars if not for the awful presence of Brad Pitt. Without his continual reminders that we were watching a film the experience would have been totally engrossing, and if his scenes had been cut to the bare minimum the length of the film would have been less onerous, too. Did Pitt have his own Babel problem, not understanding what the director wanted? Or maybe the director did want him to come across as an ineffectual and selfish idiot? Viewers should be warned that there is a scene involving the gruesome death of a chicken, so don't watch this while you're ripping into your KFC.
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  • A solid, if not spectacular, movie

    Rated - 3.5 stars  
    By JafarIqbal (54 reviews) from London , 04 Dec 2012
    BABEL (2006) Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu Writers: Guillermo Arriaga Cast: Brad Pitt; Cate Blanchett; Gael Garcia Bernal; Adriana Barraza If you’ve ever seen Crash, then you’ll probably have a good idea of what kind of film Babel is. It has the same sort of concept – four seemingly unconnected stories all interlock because of one random event. In this case, it’s the sale of a gun. We move from California to Mexico to Japan to Morocco; four different stories, all somehow connected. The temptation to make a film like Crash is obvious, and you can’t blame the filmmakers for trying. It’s a solid effort, too, but I think Babel doesn’t quite have the emotional impact its predecessor did. Don’t get me wrong, the subject matter is interesting. Exploring what it feels like for different cultures to survive in a trapped world is a very effective and engaging topic, and the stories do justice to it. But at no point am I blown away by what I’m seeing, the way I did with Crash. Performance-wise, it’s pretty excellent. Brad Pitt is fantastic as the haggard and distressed husband, and Adriana Barraza as the Mexican nanny is brilliant. For me, though, the stars of the show are the unknowns. The two Moroccan children playing brothers are very good, and Japanese star Rinko Kikuchi is the standout as deaf-mute teenager Chieko. I’d argue that connecting her story to the rest is a bit of a stretch, but it produces some great acting, so I can give her a mulligan. It’s probably unfair to keep comparing this to Crash, but it needs to as it goes for the exact same narrative model. So as one last comparison, I’ll say that Babel isn’t at the level of that movie, but it is still an enjoyable movie in its own right. You’re not gonna be blown away, but you are going to see some nice acting.
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  • A deep, 'worthy' film probably not to everyone's taste.

    Rated - 2.5 stars  
    By Aspman (82 reviews) from Scotland , 06 Jul 2012
    I don't think this is quite as bad as some viewers have thought but it's a drawn out, meaningful arty film which is probably not to the taste of everyone including me. I think it would eb wrong to write this off as bad film but I think you need to find that sort of cinema interesting or you think this is a bit dull. In the end the disk was faulty for me about 2/3 of the way through. I wasn't overly bothered about not seeing the end I was happy to read the ending online.
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  • Events happening all over the globe...

    Rated - 3.5 stars  
    By Ferry41 (223 reviews) from Oxford , 18 Mar 2012
    After the occurrence of an incident in Marocco, this is an ambitious attempt to cover the background and sew together storylines in Mexico, Marocco and Japan. Diverting, but ultimately a bit too chaotic and unconnected to really work.
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