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Babel

R Released Nov 10, 2006 2h 22m Drama TRAILER for List
69% Tomatometer 207 Reviews 77% Popcornmeter 250,000+ Ratings
An accident connects four groups of people on three different continents: two young Moroccan goatherds, a vacationing American couple (Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett), a deaf Japanese teen and her father, and a Mexican nanny who takes her young charges across a border without parental permission.
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Babel

Babel

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Critics Consensus

In Babel, there are no villains, only victims of fate and circumstance. Director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu weaves four of their woeful stories into this mature and multidimensional film.

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Critics Reviews

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Namrata Joshi Outlook There are moments when a lot is left unsaid. There's a remarkable stillness and delicacy as the music and images interplay and do all the talking. Rated: 3/4 Jan 23, 2019 Full Review Brian Tallerico UGO The kind of film that will echo deep in your soul. Mar 24, 2007 Full Review Mark Holcomb Time Out Alejandro González Iñárritu's latest sprawling, dispersed art-film blockbuster prompts a question: Does he just not know how to tell a story? Rated: 2/6 Feb 3, 2007 Full Review Josh Slater-Williams Vague Visages Babel is Crash with delusions of global grandeur; a film that masquerades as a sweeping, humanistic epic, but is instead an ultimately hammy, superficial and miserablist game of connect-the-dots. Nov 14, 2023 Full Review Murtada Elfadl Sundays with Cate Blanchett and Pitt are playing a version of the "ugly Americans abroad" trope. The film does not shy away from presenting them as entitled despite the circumstances that they are in. Rated: B Mar 4, 2022 Full Review Catherine Springer CathsFilmForum.com Unlike Crash, where the characters felt like cartoons and stereotypes, these characters are fleshed out and real, and the performances are first-rate, with a performance from Brad Pitt that is his most mature work. Jul 11, 2021 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member This is unquestionably an art film, but I hesitate to call it entertainment. It is akin to a composer using 12-tone dissonance to prove his understanding of music theory. The alleged intent of the movie is to create empathy for culture clashes and communication failures and the human lives caught in between. As much as I really wanted to see this film, I just felt myself growing angrier and angrier at the contrivance and lack of purpose and balance in the plot. It simply wasn't fair. So many negatives were stacked together to make the unthinkable sequence of events and consequences, it simply felt academic and false. Life isn't this bleak, hopeless, and dark. Nothing good happens in the story. Nothing. No one ends up with anything but desolation and ruins of what had been happy lives. This is the high brow version of Eric Cartman crapping in the porta-toilet on the girls hiding there, and then reporting that they were hiding in there. Don't watch this movie. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 07/31/24 Full Review KB B This was such a compelling film that was so sad at times. I watched it many years ago and couldn't remember very much so I gave it another view. I really liked how the 3 stories slightly intertwined. It's definitely worth the watch. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 04/19/24 Full Review Erin C Full of stereotypes, unrealistic and unanswered connections, and an unnecessarily (uncomfortable) amount of lewd scenes with minors. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/27/24 Full Review Shioka O Decent film. Rethinking the way we live in the global society. Maybe these linking fates are unrealistic and overwhelming, but it's gripping from start to end because acting and filming direction are over the top. It's from 2006, I realised that how much technology and ways of communication have been developed since then! Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/23/24 Full Review Miguel F - el inicio y presentacion no me transmite, hasta que disparan a la mujer - incio calmado no se si bueno o malo - sin mas, explica historias cruzadas pero nada del otro mundo - que se iba a liar con la mejicana y los niños se iban a quedar tirados estaba cantado, no impacta - la historia de la japo la mas intrigante - no entiendo a la policia acribillando a los chavales y el padre, es muy random motivando que ellos disparen - muy forzado que el mejicano huya, no escondia nada, solo estaba algo borracho, pero no como para tener que huir - lo unico que impacta es los niños desaparecidos en el desierto, que luego aparecen sin que ni te lo enseñen y asi como si nada Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/11/24 Full Review Alastair M Beneath the surface of the interwoven parables of helplessness, shame and sorrow is an undercurrent of beautiful, haunting visuals, woven together with a score by Gustavo Santaolalla that renders you emotionally bonded to the characters and their follies. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/10/24 Full Review Read all reviews
Babel

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The Nines 64% 61% The Nines Little Children 80% 82% Little Children Jindabyne 65% 49% Jindabyne Trade 33% 74% Trade Nine Lives 76% 67% Nine Lives Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis An accident connects four groups of people on three different continents: two young Moroccan goatherds, a vacationing American couple (Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett), a deaf Japanese teen and her father, and a Mexican nanny who takes her young charges across a border without parental permission.
Director
Alejandro González Iñárritu
Producer
Steve Golin, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Jon Kilik
Screenwriter
Guillermo Arriaga
Distributor
Paramount Pictures
Production Co
Central Films, Paramount Pictures, StudioCanal, Dune, Media Rights Capital (MRC), Anonymous Content, Paramount Vantage, Zeta Film
Rating
R (Sexual Content|Language|Some Drug Use|Some Graphic Nudity|Violence)
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Arabic
Release Date (Theaters)
Nov 10, 2006, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Jun 15, 2011
Box Office (Gross USA)
$34.3M
Runtime
2h 22m
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