Babel

Video:
"Babel" is a beautifully shot film, which locations in Morocco, Mexico, California and Japan. The film shows the various cultures and habitats of these globally and culturally diverse societies. The crammed and hectic Japanese society and the music and gaming flavored entertainment outlets of Japanese youth are nicely detailed. The mud huts of Morocco and rolling hills and plateau´s of the country´s desert-like environment are very nicely shot and show how devoid of vegetation and modern technology the country is. The dirt roads, colorful clothing and third world feel of Mexico starkly contrasts the rich household of Richard and Susan. The couple is used to a wealthy lifestyle with all of the amenities available in the United States, yet they find themselves surviving in a mud-brick domicile with no furniture and nearly no modern conveniences.

Regardless of the beautiful cinematography by director of photography Rodrigo Prieto, "Babel" is not a visually stunning film. The locations are bleak, dirty and cramped. Visuals are rugged looking, with less-than-desirable lighting, film grain and a general softness that takes away from the power of the visuals that Prieto and Inarritu have composed. The 1.85:1 widescreen, 1080p/MPEG-2 Blu-ray transfer is good and a definite improvement over the standard definition DVD release. However, "Babel" still has a nearly low-budget look and feel; "Babel" is far more powerful in its storytelling than modern day visual technology. Film grain and softness are the most common problems with the transfer and looks as if it were shot in the early nineties and not the middle of the first decade of the new millennium.

There are some shortcomings and they are certainly the result of the filmmakers´ decision-making. As you watch the film, the intended feeling of dirtiness is hard to shake. Colors are slightly subdued and not as true as one would expect from a new picture, though the Blu-ray release does have sharper and more vivid colors. Black levels and shadow detail are definitely improved over the standard definition release and look nowhere near as murky, but there are still times when fine details seem to be lost in the shadows. Whereas I found a few shortcomings in the standard definition release, the Blu-ray transfer is an improvement and allows for "Babel" and its beauty to shine far more than the disappointing standard definition release.

Sound:
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu´s film is far more visually powerful than it is audibly. The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack for the Blu-ray release is good and a noticeable upgrade over the standard definition release, but as was the case with the standard definition DVD disc, there is hardly any great material for the soundtrack shine. Compared to the HD-DVD release, the Blu-ray fell slightly behind the competing format and did not sound quite as crisp and clear when compared to the HD-DVD release. An A-B comparison found the HD-DVD disc to be slightly sharper sounding and fuller in sound. Returning to the film´s material, there exists a party scene or two in the Japanese segments where there is a lot of energy in the soundtrack. However, the film is, for the most part, a highly dialogue driven picture. The karaoke bar and video game parlors of the Japanese storyline exhibit some hard hitting bass and the music nicely populates all six speakers. There were moments of contrast as well, as any scene involving Chieko´s point of view were completely silent and not a pop, crack or hiss of the soundtrack could be heart, just deafening silence.

The rest of the film was populated with a few notable moments of sound design. When the Moroccan police are firing their weapons at a few suspects in the shooting of Susan, the gunfire and their point of impact are echoed nicely in the front channels and echo to the rear surrounds. The sound of the big Winchester rifle firing reverberates throughout the rears and sounded quite good. The sound of Santiago driving his old sedan through the desert is also well done and you can hear rocks and other debris being pushed around by the tires. The Mexican wedding party is another scene with ground sounding audio content. Being a dialogue driven film, the actors´ vocals are nicely heard and each word is intelligible. The Moroccan, Mexican and Japanese scenes are subtitled for those of us that cannot understand most of the spoken words of the foreign languages.

Extras:
As was the case with the standard definition release, there are no extras included on this release. I expect the title was rushed to market to capitalize on any Oscar generated buzz and I would also expect the standard definition release to be upgraded, but I´m not so sure we will see two releases on the High Definition formats in close proximately to one another.

Closing Thoughts:
I liked Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu´s "Babel" and felt the performances by the cast were quite notable, especially that of Rinko Kikuchi. The film shows the butterfly effect of a somewhat accidental shooting by and uneducated juvenile who believes that a high-powered rifle is incapable of doing any damage at long ranges. The interrelated stories are nicely done and each show various aspects of humanity. However, I do not feel the stories are as powerfully intertwined as they were in "Crash" and I do not feel that "Babel" is as good a film as that "Best Picture" winner. "Babel" has been compared to "Crash" a considerable amount, as I have done in this review, but they are two structurally similar films. Inarritu is on a roll after "21 Grams" and "Babel" and I eagerly await his next picture.

The Blu-ray release will not awe anybody with sound and video, but it is a definite improvement over the standard definition release and contains a better picture and better sound. The Blu-ray release is slightly bested by the HD-DVD release in picture and sound. In picture quality, the difference is very minor. Sound quality is noticeably lower quality if you are looking for it. Paramount has been releasing nearly identical next-gen releases, but this was a throwback to the early days when HD-DVD typically held a small edge in performance. Small edge being the operative words. The release is completely lacking any value added content. The real reason to own this disc is to witness why the Academy has given it seven nominations and to view this quality film featuring Brad Pitt.

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