by Kris Katz
Brief spoiler-free entertainment reviews

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Babel (2006)

Probably the very definition of a movie that is not for everyone, this quiet drama manages to exist almost entirely in the space between "Oh" and "shit," as you watch each of the major characters in their own story arcs deal with, avoid, and run straight into one horrifyingly real catastrophe after another. It's the perfect movie for a film class to watch, since it's deeply layered so as to be analyzed a hundred different ways (is it about the people who have had contact with a fateful rifle? Or maybe about how hard and yet necessary communication is to our lives? Or just about the consequences of being a child in an world with ever-more-dire consequences?), but as for the individual viewer your mileage may vary. If you're curious about it, and open minded enough to watch a piece of fiction that feels more real than most documentaries, then it is worth watching; there is true quality here. But if what you're looking for is entertainment, just move along.

8 out of 10.

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