Babel

Iñárritu reached the peak in his journey through mosaics. I would like to say that he took the best from Amores Perros and 21 Grams and combined them together, but that is not the case. Nonetheless, Babel is still the director's best work. He managed to avoid a bit of the unfortunate confusion from his previous film, endowed all the storylines with emotional richness, and mixed everything in a way that from the first second, for more than two hours, I hardly breathed. And it wouldn't be Iñárritu if there wasn't some message present in his film. Babel almost screams for humanity, solidarity, and help, which in some moments brings tears to the viewer's eyes, while in others simply freezes them. (28/02/2007)

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 (17/02/2013)

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*. (06/08/2018)

Iñarritu abandons the time fragmentation of 21 Grams and, as in his first film, tells several intertwining stories. The Mexican episode is probably the weakest, with relatively little emotional impact, while the Japanese one seems to have fallen out of another film, but thanks to the likeable lead actress it’s one of the most enjoyable. Great emotions take place in Morocco, with the story of a shepherd and his sons that escalates with great urgency at the end, while the fate of the injured American woman is gripping in places thanks to the great performances of the central duo Pitt – Blanchett, whose circumstantially forced intimate moments are among the film's strongest. The Moroccan episodes are clearly worth 5*, the other two 3*, but if I had to compare, Iñárritu's previous 21 Grams had much more emotional charge overall, at least for me. (06/02/2007)

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. (01/03/2007)