Babel (DVD, 2007, Checkpoint)

A Shepard in Morocco barters for a rifle and gives it to his two boys to guard the sheep. When the boys decide too try it out, they strike a passing tourist bus. Unfortunately, the bullet strikes a vacationing American woman in the middle of nowhere. The bus driver convinces them that it would be best to go to his small village which is nearby with the claim the village has a doctor. Unable to be transported any further, the woman and her husband are dropped off in this very remote village, to await help. Blanchett gives a stunning performance as the critically wounded wife, and Pitt is her anguished husband, as they rediscover their love under duress.

This shooting triggers off events in other people's lives across the world. We go to a troubled, deaf Japanese girl who causes a commotion, and the American couple's nanny does not wish to miss her son's wedding, and attempts to bring the children into Mexico with her without any thoughts of the possible ramifications. To explain any more details of 'Babel' would spoil your viewing experience.

This movie shows some of the consequences of the Tower of Babel in today’s world. That even though today you can talk to someone across the world, it does not mean you can communicate with them. That language is still a barrier and our frame of reference is formed by our cultures where we are raised. I recommend that you rent or check this movie out from your local library. Note there are some sexually explicit scenes that were pretty much unnecessary for this melodrama.

A bit hard to follow all the plot lines as they flow though out the film. But they are all intertwined through Brad Pitt and Kate Blanchett story. Great acting, and taken apart all the short stories have alot of intersting characters and ideas. I enjoyed the film and would recomend it but it is not at all like the marketing of the movie would protray. This is not a Brad Pitt movie, its more an ensamble of stories that Brad Pitt holds as much or less screen time as Rinko Kikuchi.

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Well, the movie, perhaps because of its title, is very confusing, as it is constantly changing from one plot, to others in the film.

The product was new and excellent price. Package deal on shipping helped. Seller is excellent store for liquidation.

This movie is excellent training for people who are planning to switch to the night shift. Much coffee and plenty of trips to the bathroom to splash cold water on your face is about the only remedy for the stretching out of this story into the realm of the absurd. It's really about three twenty-minute stories somehow multiplied into a 2.5 hour yawnfest. If you were on the edge of your seat for the last movie you watched, you are likely to fall off as you drift asleep during the pointless, pointless fluff scenes that have no bearing on the plot of this film (e.g. the five minutes of people dancing to Mexican polka music during a wedding that could have been summed up in a ten second montage).

And this is what kills me about the movie: the story is so damned good! If they could have just cut it down to an hour and a half, I would be singing the praises of the dynamic duo who also brought you the equally stretched-out-for-no-reason "21 Grams." Instead, I have to rail against the stupidity of taking twelve minutes to demonstrate to the audience the difference between a deaf girl having an acid trip (more likely it's X, but you get the point) and a girl who can hear taking a walk through the strawberry fields.

Honestly, I loved the basic story idea. I loved how the relationship between the three tales was not so overbearing, and everyone didn't meet up in the end for a big group hug. I loved Cate Blanchett, and I was able to endure Brad Pitt for the entire movie, only once vomiting in my mouth a little. The Japanese guy from "Memoirs of a Geisha," whose name I'm too lazy to look up (you know - Ken Watanabe's buddy who saved his bacon in Manchuria), was just as good as he was in that far superior film.

Thus I give it a 3, with the knowledge that this film could have been utterly brilliant. Yes, there are moments of great inspiration, but they come about once every 2.5 hours.

Try it out, but make sure you also rented something with a pulse to fall back on. Even that ridiculous "Crank" movie might not seem so bad after sitting through this one.

OK, I slept on this one and overnight it lost a star. I can only give this two stars at the most. My biggest problem is that it is very hard to like anybody in the film. The only people I felt sorry for were the little kids and maybe the deaf mute Japanese girl but even she was annoying. I had no sympathy for the parents whatsoever. They are sitting there whining about losing a baby to SIDS and yet you find out that their kids were raised all the way through by their illegal nanny. So, they lose a kid and instead of getting closer to the two kids they do have they head to Africa? Idiotic. They deserved every little bit of suffering they got. What about the kids with the gun? Should I feel sorry for them and their parents? Not really. I don't care what culture you live in, if you have two crazy kids without brains (and the warning signs should have been obvious) you should NOT give them a gun. No sympathy here. The Nanny? Oh, come on. No sympathy whatsoever. She's lived in the United States for 13 years and she doesn't have enough cultural common sense to know that you don't take American kids across the border without permission. I disliked the parents even more after I found that they left their kids not only with a nanny...but an idiot nanny. I really gave this one a chance but after digesting it I realize that it doesn't deserve one