Babel

Babel floats stylishly on the surface, but it fails to go any deeper. The content of the two main storylines comes across as half-empty, and the third storyline, though it holds the strongest potential, doesn’t add anything to them. If I gave 21 Grams four stars, I have to stick with three in this case. Nice visuals, great atmospheric music and good actors aren’t everything. P.S. Chieko should have jumped. (02/28/2007)

Three Stories, or safe betting, for the third time. Alejandro González Iñárritu delivers exactly the same film again, and to some extent, we all fell for it again. Babel is undoubtedly the most artistic film in his career – or at least tries to be in overall composition, intellectual strength, use of music and silent scenes, handheld camera… The three stories are interwoven together in a somewhat simpler and more viewer-friendly form, which does not require such precise timing and sequencing of scenes, or the precision of the editor. Unlike the director's previous film, Babel can be easily understood on the first viewing. The acting is not revolutionary, rather standard, with many impressive scenes and a formal stylization that is appropriately minimalist, with few colors. It is economical, simple, and overall raw, but it feels somewhat clichéd. (08/17/2007)

Alejandro González Iñárritu is a director who is not responsible for so much, definitely not one of those who make at least one film annually. However, his films are still etched into the memories of viewers - they are strong, emotional, and dramatic. No, there is really not much humor in his films, he rather focuses on the more depressing aspects of human life. What he excels at is connecting storylines. He proved this with "Amores Perros" and he succeeded again here. One shot changes everything. It seems like it only changes one life, but in reality, everything changes. Lives that were once led, fall apart. Everyone lives in some world, in a different world, and suddenly it no longer makes sense. How do we deal with it? There is nothing we can do but accept the change. Because then... then it's just damnation. Well, these really aren't films for pleasant evenings with the family. But at least you will take something away from "Babel". And if you're wondering why "Babel", try to think about how many languages are actually spoken here. More: http://www.filmovy-denik.cz/2012/04/jumper-babel-kung-fu-divocina-miami.html (02/17/2013)

Alejandro González Iñárritu stubbornly sticks to the refined style that appealed to so many viewers in his previous two films. I used to be a fan of Amores Perros, but I didn’t like that much the celebrated 21 Grams. I enjoyed Babel less than AP but more than 21 Grams. It’s a mosaic composed of three, and therefore four, stories. If they did away with the one about the whiny Japanese girl, the film would be less than two hours long and I would likely be a little more satisfied. I don’t mean by this that the Japanese story was uninteresting, no, but it’s so distant and with a different atmosphere, and it always distracted me from the dirty desert settings of Mexico and Morocco. Moreover, its connection with the other two stories is only symbolic. (08/04/2011)

An ambitious shot in the dark. It has some moral ideas, but they’re wrapped in an insanely lengthy filler that pretends to be an artistic rebellion against the traditional narrative, but it's just a few classically punctuated episodes in an aimless structure. The actors are excellent and some scenes are very strong, but that's not enough. 2 ½*. (08/06/2018)