After missing Babel for the past few months, I finally took the time to catch it about a week ago. It's funny, because it hadn't gotten fantastic reviews I was skeptical. Sure it had Cate Blanchett and Gael Garcia Bernal, but I was like, "eh...if it were that good, someone would have said so."
Well, I'm saying so.
Babel is a long movie. A slow movie. And it isn't chock full of action either. But it has the kind of wonderful performances that just kind of mezmerize you. For me, Adriana Barraza steals the show as the Brad and Cate's nanny/housekeeper. She displays the uncannily real kind of fear a person has when he or she realizes that a life-changing mistake has just been made. And I'll tell you, Brad sure shines in his desperate role too.
My only real criticism of the film is that although I love the story about the deaf Japanese girl (played so well by Koji Yakusho), it didn't fit into the film well on a narrative or tonal level. Sure, Babel is all about how people in our world fail to connect. But Koji's story of dispair and distance from her father, didn't have the kind of cross-cultural relevance as the rest of the film. It felt tacked on.
But all in all, the movie's a gem. Know you'll be sitting in your seat for a while, and be patient. If you do, you're sure to learn a thing or two about taking a walk in someone else's shoes.
