 Few films have provoked such intellectual scrutiny as Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu's Babel, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. Consider A.O. Scott's comments in the New York Times: "The individual scenes are sometimes so powerful, and put together with such care and conviction, that you might leave the theater feeling dazed, even traumatized. Babel is certainly an experience. But is it a meaningful experience? That the film possesses unusual aesthetic force strikes me as undeniable, but its power does not seem to be tethered to any coherent idea or narrative logic. You can feel it without ever quite believing it." Now, consider Carina Chocano's comments in the Los Angeles Times: "Clearly, González Iñárritu knows his Weltschmerz, and he burrows deep into the existential loneliness of each character to create a kaleidoscope of cumulative human sadness and grief over the state of the world. With uncommon empathy and insight, he elicits moving performances from all the actors." Virtually all of the critics agree that Babel is one of the best films of the year. Rex Reed in the New York Observer goes further. Calling it a "masterpiece," he writes: "We still have two months to go, but at this point, in my opinion, I consider Babel the best film of 2006." |
