(2006)
4
Perry Seibert
Babel is, if nothing else, ambitious. Director Alejandro González Iñárritu wants to tell the story of about a dozen characters, showing how their seemingly selfish actions, transpiring in nations on four different continents, reverberate throughout the world. There is a seriousness to the film that lends it an illusory air of importance. The most harrowing scene exemplifies its surface strengths, but betrays the hollowness at the film's core. As Amelia (Adriana Barraza) stumbles lost through the desert, attempting to find help before her young charges succumb to heat stroke or some other horrendous fate, the average audience member will feel as if he or she is being put in a physical and emotional vice. Ace cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto captures the oppressive heat, and never allows the audience to forget how much of a speck the character is in the vast landscape. This sequence is harrowing, but it goes on so long that one can't help think about what it actually "means." As a piece of old-fashioned, D.W. Griffith-inspired melodrama, the film is technically masterful, but there seems to be no reason for the characters to be experiencing these awful moments except for the fact the director knows that a child in danger will automatically capture the interest of an audience. This same problem affects just about every scene in the movie. Taken individually, they work on an audience. They have power. But taken as a whole, there seems to be no real connective thread. Aside from a haunted, powerful performance by Rinko Kikuchi as a deaf Japanese teenager in palpably deep mourning, none of the actors are given material that allows them to communicate the great pains their characters feel in ways that stay with you when they are offscreen. The director throws a lot of big themes around -- miscommunication, mistreatment of children, and the state of international relations -- but never once does Babel feel like it is really about any of these topics. They are merely concepts that Iñárritu hopes will lend credibility to the extreme physical and emotional distress under which he places his characters. For a film supposedly about the difficulty to communicate, Babel, ironically, has so much to say that it ends up a frustrating jumble.
Trailer
awards for Babel on AllMovie
Babel (2006)
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
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Nominated |
Best Director
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Editing
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2006 |
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Won |
Best Music Score
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Original Screenplay
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Picture
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Supporting Actress
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2006 |
American Cinema Editors Guild
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Won |
Best Edited Dramatic Feature
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2006 |
American Film Institute
Art Directors Guild
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Nominated |
Best Art Direction in a Contemporary Film
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2006 |
Austin Film Critics
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Won |
Best Supporting Actress
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2006 |
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
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Nominated |
Best Cinematography
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Director
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Editing
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2006 |
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Won |
Best Film Music
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Original Screenplay
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Picture
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Sound
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2006 |
Broadcast Film Critics Association
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Nominated |
Best Ensemble Acting
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Picture
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Score
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Screenplay
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Soundtrack
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Supporting Actress
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2006 |
Chicago Film Critics Association
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Nominated |
Best Cinematography
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Director
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Original Score
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Original Screenplay
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Picture
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Supporting Actor
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Supporting Actress
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Most Promising Performer
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2006 |
Costume Guild Awards
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Nominated |
Best Costumes in a Contemporary Film
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2006 |
Dallas/Fort Worth Film Critics Association
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Nominated |
Best Picture
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2006 |
Directors Guild of America
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Nominated |
Best Director
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2006 |
Hollywood Foreign Press Association
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Nominated |
Best Director
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Original Score
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
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2006 |
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Won |
Best Picture - Drama
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Screenplay
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2006 |
Las Vegas Film Critics Association
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Nominated |
Best Picture
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2006 |
London Film Festival
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Nominated |
Film Presented
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2006 |
National Board of Review
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Nominated |
Best Picture
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2006 |
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Won |
Breakthrough Performance by an Actress
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2006 |
New York Film Critics Online
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Nominated |
Best Picture
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2006 |
Online Film Critics Association
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Nominated |
Best Cinematography
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Director
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Editing
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Original Score
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Original Screenplay
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Picture
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Supporting Actress
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Breakthrough Performer
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2006 |
Phoenix Film Critics Association
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Nominated |
Best Picture
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2006 |
Producers Guild of America
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Nominated |
Producer of the Year
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2006 |
San Diego Film Critics Association
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Won |
Best Ensemble
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2006 |
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Won |
Best Score
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2006 |
San Francisco Film Critics Circle
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Won |
Best Supporting Actress
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2006 |
San Sebastián International Film Festival
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Nominated |
Film Presented
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2006 |
Satellite Awards
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Nominated |
Best Director
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Editing
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2006 |
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Won |
Best Original Score
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Original Screenplay
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Picture - Drama
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Sound
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Supporting Actor
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Supporting Actress
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2006 |
Screen Actors Guild
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Nominated |
Best Ensemble Acting
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Supporting Actress
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2006 |
Southeastern Film Critics Association
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Nominated |
Best Picture
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2006 |
Telluride Film Festival
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Nominated |
Film Presented
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2006 |
Toronto Film Critics Association
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Nominated |
Best Screenplay
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2006 |
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Nominated |
Best Supporting Actress
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2006 |
Toronto International Film Festival
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Nominated |
Film Presented
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2006 |
Utah Film Critics
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Won |
Best Supporting Actress
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2006 |
Writers Guild of America
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Nominated |
Best Original Screenplay
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2006 |
