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Babel Analysis
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Detailed notes on the film, Babel.
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BABELDirector: Alejandro Gonzalez
BEGINNING
- Non Synchronous sound = wind followed by footsteps - camera tracking
- Yussef resents not being the oldest as Ahmed uses his age [sibling rivalry]
- Arabic, good character choice
- Mask [keyhole shot] - spying on sister [Zohra]
- Establishing shot = shows us the landscape [shows how arid and barren the
landscape is]
- Colours = brown [like sudan] - Orangy-brown related to all scenes
- Hot, very tired, boring looking after goats
- Linking scenes to relate and [acts like a thread] - running boys join scenes
- Amelia boxed in shot shows how she is “trapped” linked to end of movie
- Not linear [timelapse] - may show stories are connected but they don't have to
happen at the same time to be connected
- Tells her its okay to go to wedding
- Director shows amelia as a good person, she cares for the children like they are
her own
- Son [mike] = favourite
- Ameila speaking to her in Spanish shows that she has been with them for a long
time and have taught them
- Sam [little brother that died] =cradle death
- Doesn't care that it’s her sons wedding
Leaving to go to Mexico
Morocco
- Strong wind
- Close up of her & close up of him - never in same shot = distance between them
[figuratively]
- Throw out ice & use hand sanitizer - Linked to tessa, contradicting = she is
snobby and on edge
- “you are the reason I’m stressed, you are the reason I can’t rest”
- Richard didn't handle death of baby well [ran away]
- Outsiders not part of desert, only traveling through
- Close up of hands = attempt at reconciliation
- First time we get them in the same frame [still not looking at each other] perhaps
getting closer
, Tokyo
- Always barriers when we see Chieko’s face
- Chieko is very angry and frustrated at life [swears at referee]
- Locker room = doesn't seem like safe space, harder for her to let out frustration
[therefore builds up]
- Dialogue: lets us know why she’s frustrated [makes us feel sympathetic] before
she seemed like a teenager who is just moody
- Sympathy for father = “you don't pay attention to me, my mother always paid
attention to me” = sympathy for father as he does pay attention to her
- She is manipulating him, he keeps trying - [watching game, wants to have lunch]
- Contrast between loud music
- First time she smiles = after 10 minutes [different sides of character] she’s not flat
- Face immediately changes when she gets rejected - can read emotion
- Explosive reaction - determined to get their attention - resolute
Morocco
- Jump to conclusions - american tourist killed, must be terrorist
- Colour: orangy / red
Mexico
- Montage as driving into Mexico [seen through debbie & mikes eyes]
- Stereotype = Mexico is dangerous [unknown + full of Mexicans]
- “My mom told me that Mexico is dangerous” - susan again skeptical about
different cultures
- Amelia: good person, concerned about kids
- Amelia's dress = redy,browny
Morocco
- Blood of chicken links to blood in bus [Susan] - change between scenes
- Promic range = enduring brings them closer together [seen by range between
them]
- Very foreign for tourists - not comfortable in environment
- Link to constant gardener = little kids running after car vs kids running after
- Guitar = plucking / jarring sound [not very soothing]
- Montage of Susan’s arrival at village [showing reactions]
- Kenyan villages from constant gardener = a lot more vibrant
- “don’t leave me, don’t leave me” = doesn’t trust strangers [contrast to tessa]
- Tourists give suspicious looks to villagers - don’t trust & want to leave
- Tragedies brought them together - proximity range
Tokyo
- From scream to silence [contrast = good link, quite powerful]
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