Babel (DVD)

After a surprise Golden Globe Best Picture win, a theatrical re-release and a lot of Oscar hoopla, Babel makes its way to DVD. This is a movie where one shot of a rifle connects the lives of two Moroccan boys, an American couple, a Mexican Nanny with two kids and a deaf-mute Japanese girl. Screenwriter Gulliermo Arriaga and director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu have a lot on their plate but they manage to successfully pack everything in in very meaningful, successful ways.

I've already expressed my thoughts on the movie after it won the Golden Globe (you can read them here), but this is definitely a film worth a second look. I recently re-watched 21 Grams, Inarritu's previous film. When I first saw it years ago, I admired it (for it's amazing editing and performances) but had little desire to ever see it again because it struck me as incredibly depressing. I came across it flipping through the channels two weeks ago and got stuck. Inarritu makes films about the fragility of life and you will react either depressed or hopeful. I felt a lot more hope and saw a lot more beauty in my second go-around with 21 Grams. Babel, however, has always struck me as a hopeful film but I was looking forward to sitting down and letting it soak itself in again, even wondering if I would feel a stronger attachment to the film this time.

Didn't really happen. I still think it's a very good film, just not a great one and Amores Perros still ranks as Inarritu and Arriaga's best. But I will say this: there were few movies last year that end as powerfully as Babel's final twenty minutes. The final shot in this opus ranks among the best and most moving of 2006. And I'm still surprise Brad Pitt did not get an Oscar nomination for his performance here. Babel is jam-packed with great work and Pitt has two of the film's most emotionally raw scenes.

This disc is completely devoid of bonus features (sorry, a film's trailer is not a special feature in my book). The thing is, I don't know if we will ever see a special edition of Babel (the DVDs to Amores Perros and 21 Grams are pretty bare-bones) so if you have the slightest interest in owning this movie, you probably want to pick it up anyway. Then again, things might change February 25th if it wins the Best Picture Oscar (I'm starting to think it might). Babel isn't in my top ten for the year, but I couldn't really complain if it happens. It's one emotional, thought-provoking flick.