logictortured.com Blog

Review: Babel

This really isn’t a review of the movie Babel. It’s more of a couple of observations. I think Babel is an entirely new genre of film: a horror film for parents. Basically, the events in the film are every parents’ nightmare. This new genre makes sense for movie studios. By the time we become parents we’re (hopefully) old enough to know that monsters and the undead don’t exist. It’d take more than a monster to put real fear into us. We’d need realism and real fears exploited to get us unnerved.

So Babel exploits the following parental fears: Having your spouse possibly fatally injured and not being able to do anything about it. Having your kids lost in the desert. Having your child care provider kidnap your children. Having your spouse commit suicide only to have your daughter be the first to find her. To have a suicidal and overtly sexually frustrated daughter. To have one of your children commit a pointless but utterly serious crime. Nearly every fear a parent has was explored and exploited in Babel.

As a parent I was certainly horrified. In fact, I was so tense during the movie worrying about the characters that I got physically ill. I had to leave the theater for a bit just to remind myself that it was only a movie. If I had been alone I probably would have left for good. That’s not saying it’s a bad movie. Just too real.

The only problem I have with the movie was the fact that no other American from the bus offered to help Richard or his wife. Obviously, the director thought it would be more horrifying to have Richard abandoned, but I find it hard to believe. I also get the impression that the Mexican born director and writer wanted to show Americans in a bad light. That as a group we’re utterly selfish. I’ve been an American too long and have seen too many acts of kindness by Americans to believe that. So I think the film makers are being mean-spirited themselves by painting us in that light.

Share this:

Paramount Pictures announces Babel 2: Chistmas Vacation!

Brad Pitt in a scene from the upcoming motion picture Babel 2: Christmas Vacation!

Hollywood – Paramount Pictures – November 13, 2006:

Due to the overwhelming critical success of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Babel, Paramount Pictures is proud to announce a sequel for December of 2007, Babel 2: Christmas Vacation!

The sequel will follow Richard and Susan and their family to Mexico where they attempt to rescue their deported nanny Amelia. Along the way they’re kidnapped by drug lords, the mother is gang raped, and the kids are sold into white slavery. In the effects-laden finale, the family is transported back to the era of the Mayans where they are disemboweled. Will they make it to the North Pole in time to meet Santa Clause? Only if a quadriplegic girl living in France can solve her lice problem before her father comes home.

Also, be sure to look for the soundtrack featuring Sir Elton John backed by Los Lobos and Kenny G for release in November of 2007.

Share this: