Everything about this movie was contrived, gratuitous and small minded. Never having viewed a Alejandro González Iñárritu film before, there will be no wasted time on one again.

Just because a film deals with potentially interesting multi-culturally diverse subject matter does not mean that the film itself is interesting, or indeed multi-cultural. In fact there are some pretty offensive racial stereotypes employed throughout this film to progress the "story-line", such as it is:Bedouin goat-herders being portrayed as so ignorant and insensible that they will shoot at a bus for no good reason, and that one masturbates while thinking of his sister undressing. (what point was that scene trying to make exactly?)Middle-aged white tourists, who are obviously open-minded enough to be there in the first place suddenly becoming totally unreasonable and racist, believing the locals are all "out-to-get them" despite only one shot ever having been fired.That Morocco is so backward it would take more than a day to get access to better than veterinarian care.That the local US embassy staff would be stupid enough to classify a single shot as a terrorist event, even though it is this classification that apparently led to the delay in the ambulance.That a deaf-mute Japanese girl would be so desperate for "affection" that she would lick the face of her dentist and strip in front of a policeman she had only just met.That a Mexican nanny would be stupid enough to take the children in her care out of the country and try to return with a drunk at the wheel, despite being herself an illegal.etc etcFor a film with so many plaudits about it's "depth" and "insight" I find these hard to countenance.The 3 stories are essentially totally unconnected, with the writer forced to link them with some ridiculously unlikely happenstance. The art direction is average, with the shooting style making the film even more exhausting an ordeal than it already is.The acting was superb however, so full credit to the great cast. The score is also strong. These two facts alone are, I believe the reason most people seem to view this as art (which it isn't) rather than a poorly pulled-together set of unrelated and individually weak yarns.

I cannot believe the high rating this movie received... It is not as though I had any expectations, but this movie was off the chart in disappointing. Depressing story without any redeeming purpose or meaning....and I am being kind. Yes, there were interconnected stories of grief, despair, and humanity. But even in the conclusion, that made no contribution to the overall delivery. I can say that the characters were true in their part of the story. And the acting by all was solid and consistent. Overall the message I received is that....well there really was no message, other than throw a few big name actors on the screen and see how many viewers can be sucked in. What a terrible waste of actors, production, and my time.I know this contribution will have little effect other than perhaps spare someone from suffering as I did.

This movie, like Crash (2004), follows the idea of interlocking stories that come together at the end, demonstrating some sort of human "butterfly effect" or cause-and-effect relationship between human events. While director, Allejandro Gonzalez Inarritu DID have some success in this genre with his DEATH TRILOGY: Amores Perros (2000), 21 Grams (2003), Babel (2006). The later, the one reviewed here, seemed totally contrived and unbelievable to me. Here, three seemly separate stories in distant locations—San Diego (and Mexico), Morocco (and Tunisia) and Tokyo—come together in the end. But, to pull these stories together to make some sort of statement, I had to stretch credulity beyond MY ability.==Why would an American couple go to Morocco to straighten their marital difficulties?==Why would a Japanese man visit Morocco to hunt? I think that Inarritu was trying to make statements about three VERY disparate current issues--gun control, illegal immigration, and fear of terrorism. But, he seemed forced to stray TOO far to cram all these issues into one movie.BUT STILL, themes DO come though in the movie: 1) that there is a lack of communication between cultures and languages; 2) that we all have common ground as humans beings; 3) that we all face unknown fears; and that we all share certain hopes and fears.AND ANOTHER THEME that seemed clear to me, had to do with the innocence and vulnerability of children and the need to recognize that fact: The most moving of the stories was the segment about a young Japanese deaf- mute girl and her feeling of alienation--from both her family, her friends, and ultimately, herself.