Babel

I saw this movie when it first came out in 2006 and I watched it again a couple nights ago forgetting how much I liked it the first time. The main theme of this movie has to do with language barriers. Four separate stories are told throughout the movie (they all end up connecting however) and in each case problems arise due to communication with different languages. I especially liked the inclusion of the girl who was deaf.
I decided to explore the reason for the title. At first I thought "Babel" meant a sort of muttering or mumbling...OR how babies, well, babel. But then I read about the Tower of Babel in the Bible. I've never read the bible so I was unfamiliar with this story but apparently all the peoples of the world spoke the same language and decided to build this tower to reach the heavens and become godlike. Well God became angry and to punish all the people he gives each their own language to confuse them and hinder them from working together to build this tower.
AH HA! Now I get the title.

The ending of the movie was one to think about...everyone seems worse off at the end then in the beginning EXCEPT the American family. Which makes me wonder if the director, Alejandro González Iñárritu, intended this to showcase American egocentrism. Whatever the case, this movie is an eye-opener, and at times, a tear jerker packed with emotionally raw moments.

Its only downfall is that it is a bit slow moving at some points accompanied with some awkward scenes.

4 stars - Watch it...