Film & BooksIssue: Capricorn 06
Babel
Based on the biblical story of the Tower of Babel where God punishes human ambition by causing everyone to speak different languages so they cannot complete their task, the movie “Babel” gives us the context necessary to actually see the cultural and psychological misunderstandings that keep our world in a state of chaos. In just about every element of film-making, this movie achieves shocking success, and in my opinion, is the most intelligent and innovative film of 2006.
Directed and co-written by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, “Babel” weaves together three stories in three different countries, Mexico, Morocco, and Japan, in a similar style as last year’s Oscar award winning “Crash,” but does so with much greater insight and brilliance.
All three stories revolve around an American couple played by Brad Pitt and my favorite actress, Cate Blanchett, who are vacationing in a remote area of Morocco and suddenly find themselves in desperate need of medical care. With no ambulances and no hospital near by, they become dependent on the kindness of strangers in a remote Moroccan village. The tension that ensues so effectively displays the tension between the average American vs. the third world yet does not go to the same extremes as the polarizing vignettes in “Crash.” The other stories that surround the incident explore the same concept of running into trouble by crossing borders physically, culturally, and psychologically, yet they compassionately emphasize the very basic human need for greater understanding and empathy. Having traveled to many third world countries myself, I applaud Inarritu, who is Mexican, for what appears to me as a fair and even-handed depiction of the positives and negatives of each culture.
The powerful scenes in “Babel” are not easy to sit through, and they provoke a cathartic response that will not allow the viewer to relax or escape. So, it is not an easy film to watch, but it is definitely worth the trip. In fact, this film is a landmark achievement in that it depicts the confusion inherent in our world in a way that is so real, its truth cannot be denied. 
Film & Books Archives (total entries: 29)
Capricorn 08 - The Career Issue
Sagittarius 08 & Honest Self Expression
Like real life-families who have a member struggling with drug or alcohol addiction, the focus of “Rachel Getting Married” isn’t on Rachel, even though it should be. It is on her narcissistic sister, Kym, who is out of rehab for the weekend to attend Rachel’s wedding.
Scorpio 08 - The Money Issue
At a time when our nation’s security is in question and our economy is in shambles “The Good Society: The Humane Agenda” by John Kenneth Galbraith has much to teach the abiding liberal as well as the dutiful conservative.
Honestly, I have never been one for self-help books, but what I liked most about "How We Choose to Be Happy" is that it celebrates the wisdom of a variety of literary greats balanced by the stories of ordinary people.
This book won the 2008 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction for good reason. I started the “The Great Man” on Saturday morning and had to finish it by lunch the next day. When it started to rain I traded my lawn chair for the couch and kept on reading. This novel is fabulously funny, mischievous, and easy to read.
A quirky look at boyhood and film-making in the 1980s, “Son of Rambow” is a welcome diversion from the current deluge of blockbuster remakes and super hero epics in theaters this summer. Written and directed by Garth Jennings and produced by Nick Goldsmith, I like the way this film spins a standard, winning movie formula at a slightly awkward angle.
Although “The Maytrees” by Annie Dillard is marketed as a novel, it reads from beginning to end as a poem. Like body surfing, the poetry will move emotions in directions that the mind may not understand. When this wave brought me to shore, I needed air and I wasn’t quite certain where I had been or where I had landed, but I was, in the truest sense of the word, in awe of the experience I just had.
April and May are notoriously bad months to go to the movies. The Academy Award hopefuls of 2008 won't be released until the fall, and the summer blockbusters won't be out for a few months. So what is a film reviewer to do when all the movies in the theaters are lame? This reviewer is going to suggest that you catch up on the best movies of 2007!
After an unsuccessful attempt to climb K2, Greg Mortenson stumbled into the village of Korphe in Pakistan’s Karakoram Himalaya region. The generosity and hospitality of the Korphe villagers inspired Mortenson to establish the Central Asia Institute (CAI). Since the establishment of CAI ten years ago, the organization has built 55 schools serving Pakistan and Afghanistan’s poorest children, especially girls.
Based on Marjane Satrapi's books, the film “Persepolis” tells the poignant story of a young girl coming of age in Iran in the midst of revolution and war.
