Why so much hype?

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Just because a film deals with potentially interesting multi-culturally diverse subject matter does not mean that the film itself is interesting, or indeed multi-cultural. In fact there are some pretty offensive racial stereotypes employed throughout this film to progress the "story-line", such as it is:Bedouin goat-herders being portrayed as so ignorant and insensible that they will shoot at a bus for no good reason, and that one masturbates while thinking of his sister undressing. (what point was that scene trying to make exactly?)Middle-aged white tourists, who are obviously open-minded enough to be there in the first place suddenly becoming totally unreasonable and racist, believing the locals are all "out-to-get them" despite only one shot ever having been fired.That Morocco is so backward it would take more than a day to get access to better than veterinarian care.That the local US embassy staff would be stupid enough to classify a single shot as a terrorist event, even though it is this classification that apparently led to the delay in the ambulance.That a deaf-mute Japanese girl would be so desperate for "affection" that she would lick the face of her dentist and strip in front of a policeman she had only just met.That a Mexican nanny would be stupid enough to take the children in her care out of the country and try to return with a drunk at the wheel, despite being herself an illegal.etc etcFor a film with so many plaudits about it's "depth" and "insight" I find these hard to countenance.The 3 stories are essentially totally unconnected, with the writer forced to link them with some ridiculously unlikely happenstance. The art direction is average, with the shooting style making the film even more exhausting an ordeal than it already is.The acting was superb however, so full credit to the great cast. The score is also strong. These two facts alone are, I believe the reason most people seem to view this as art (which it isn't) rather than a poorly pulled-together set of unrelated and individually weak yarns.

a film. many stories. great actors. Babel has the gift to be more than a film. or giving a story. or proposing characters. it is a sort of manifesto. about the roots of every day reality. about the price of success, happiness, love, sacrifices, victories, sadness. and that did it a sort of poem. about its public more than about the evolution of characters. a film about mark of gestures. about decisions and believes and science to accept the truth. it is not easy to define it. because entire film is in the space of the frame of the last scenes. a film about ordinaries people. in a labyrinth. as parts of labyrinth. looking the second chance. or, more exactly, the essence of freedom against yourselves.

Babel is essentially one condescending scene after another. In theory it sounds ideal; there are many characters all intertwined by the same depressing event. But the film does nothing to justify any of this. In the world of Babel parents lack any common sense and give loaded weapons and ammunition to their children to go play without supervision. Lets suspend our disbelief that the children are stupid enough to shoot at a bus for target practice. So the police are immediately searching for the shooters and one cop picks up some pebbles on the ground so they know they are from the middle of nowhere. The cops don't hesitate to assault civilians while interrogating them. They also think its OK to kick someone hard enough to break the persons ribs to extract some information. But when they see our child shooters they tell them not to walk between the graves. Apparently they only care about the people they are sworn to serve and protect if they freaking die!! Then they roll up on some unarmed civilians and right away they start shooting at them without even knowing who they really are and kill a boy in the process. But its alright they can simply explain later that it was a big misunderstanding! Our beautiful American tourist is shot and its all over the international news despite the fact that they are in a remote village with no members of the press to be seen. And the anxious husband decides to pull in to a village because he thinks there is a good doctor only to find a veterinarian with dirty hands attempting to stick a rusty needle in his wife's bloody arm. He is not compelled to get back on the bus but instead enables the torment and then acts like a maniac when the passengers curse him and threaten to leave him! Need i say more? I think you get the idea!

I cannot believe the high rating this movie received... It is not as though I had any expectations, but this movie was off the chart in disappointing. Depressing story without any redeeming purpose or meaning....and I am being kind. Yes, there were interconnected stories of grief, despair, and humanity. But even in the conclusion, that made no contribution to the overall delivery. I can say that the characters were true in their part of the story. And the acting by all was solid and consistent. Overall the message I received is that....well there really was no message, other than throw a few big name actors on the screen and see how many viewers can be sucked in. What a terrible waste of actors, production, and my time.I know this contribution will have little effect other than perhaps spare someone from suffering as I did.