Artivels
Undescribable Perfection
Megamind
To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.
Fatma Suarez
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
Theo Robertson
Nice to see via the comments and the message board that this film was held in high regard . I remember it well . It's one of those tough , gritty realist type movies broadcast late night on Channel 4 sometime in the late 1980s when that particular channel was interested in showcasing challenging home grown talent . In those days my peers and myself would nearly always be watching movies on VHS cassette and would involve people with American accents suffering terrible and gory deaths via mad axemen and monsters . It'd be a novelty in seeing a serious film , never mind a British produced one and this type of movie in look and feel would be occasionally attempted by Ken Loach or Alan Clarke . That said perhaps the novelty of seeing BABYLON gave it a reputation that possibly isn't that deserved As I started to watch it again I really found asking myself I'd be able to make it all the way through to the end credits down to one reason - the characters talk in heavy Jamaican tones . I did recognise the Jamaican phrase for " Good afternoon . How are you my friend ? " which is " Hey mon " but after that I was totally puzzled as to the conversations taking place . Just about every black character in the film talks like that with the ironic exception of the one bloke who does look like he's just stepped off the boat from Kingston and you're now able to understand what's going on to an extent. Nice to know he also has a white friend because that means there's at least two people I can understand . There's other white people too but they're incapable of opening their mouths without a tirade of racial insults spewing from it . And this is the problem with BABYLON - there's hardly one single likable or sympathetic character in it and is rather dated in every aspect One can see the point the film is making . It was produced in 1980 , the year before the Brixton riots and a time when institutionalized racism was the norm and what BABYLON deserves very great credit for is in its sophistication in not painting society as " White people = rabid racist oppressors , Black people = poor innocent victims " . What I mean by this is that several white characters mouth racist insults but you see them having a motive for being angry . A mechanic walks out in the middle of work earning the ire of his employer . If the boss was truly racist would he have given a black kid a job in the first place ? A group of reggae fans are having all night parties in a lock up garage thereby upsetting the residents nearby . Now if the actions were done by a group of white chavs the outcome would possibly have the same outcome ? The police are painted as racist bully boys but you'd to have to a very naive reader of The Daily Mail not to believe there's a large element of truth in this especially taking on board the location and the period it's set in and explains to an extent the motives of most of the black characters who do have very large chips on their shoulders. This level of sophistication where the audience are allowed to make up their own minds as to the causes of racism or indeed if we're racist simply because we're human and want to belong to our own tribe is left open ended but is striking in the refreshing and ambiguous way it's put forward . Also interesting that a couple of characters are portrayed as being violent " queer bashers " and if you really want to really confuse and upset a bleeding heart liberal just show a couple of black guys beating up a homosexual . You wouldn't get that in EASTENDERS BABYLON isn't a great film and because of the language problem makes it rather inaccessible for a mainstream audience along with the dated look . It is however a good example of a British realist drama and despite being a political film is thankfully free of the political overstatement that Loach might have brought to the story . I've also had a look at the resume of the director Franco Rosso and was surprised and a little sad that his career didn't really progress beyond this movie because with a couple of more films under his belt I'd be very interested in seeing what sort of director he'd be like as he matured . As it stands BABYLON seems a career highlight of a far too short career
andygberry1
As an avid follower of British cinema, I like to think that I've seen most of the worthwhile films that our country has produced. But I'm always on the lookout for films that I haven't seen, but sound interesting, and so I stumbled upon Babylon, then tracked it down on DVD and gave it a watch. Co-written by the writer of Quadrophenia, and directed by an Italian born director, and starring Brinsley Forde of Aswad, comedian Mel Smith, and Karl Howman, perhaps best known these days as the face of Flash household cleaning products, it seems an unlikely sort of project, which perhaps, not surprisingly due to its sensitive subject matter dealing with the institutionalised racism of late 1970's England, seemed to receive little attention when it was released. This is a shame, as although not quite a classic film, the director, Franco Rosso, who sadly was unable to generate funding for any future film projects after making this film, shows that given time he could have been a significant voice in British Cinema. Babylon is a film made by a gifted director just finding his feet, with some memorable scenes littered throughout. It strikingly portrays working class London in the late 1970's as a pretty unforgiving environment, though, the drab atmosphere of the setting is frequently punctuated by tracks from the film's reggae soundtrack, bringing you into the characters' world as they seek solace from these surroundings in the reggae music they play through their cherished sound system.Babylon should definitely have a place in anyone's top 100 British films of all time. For me It only narrowly falls short of classic status because the ending feels a tad abrupt, and the whole film does feel like it does not run quite as seamlessly as it should. Perhaps that's down to the editing maybe. Even so, I'd recommend it to anyone with an interest in British films.
FiveHundredFlicks
I was sat flicking through the TV channels last night and caught the opening scene of Babylon on BBC2. I couldn't believe it. I also couldn't understand how I'd forgotten about the film and why the DVD was missing from my collection.Babylon is a classic film without equal. I was 14 in 1981 and going to blues with my older brother.Dub, real classic heavy dub, was my sound track to the early 80's and Babylon was one of those films which summed up the experience of many black and white bwoy dem in a time before gangsta (c)rap corrupted everything.Jamacian Patois with a slight cockney twang has been replaced by Jafaican. Collie weed and Blue Mountain Sensi replaced with skunk. Choparitas replaced with bling. Babylon is a snapshot time capsule of a film and it should be cherished as such, without analysing it too much and it should only be compared on its own terms. Been playing the soundtrack this morning and I've ordered the DVD to fill that gap in my collection. If you get the chance, watch the film.Bim!
jaxche
Saw this film in 1983, had it on tape - but cant find it!! Now, over 20 years on, I still remember several scenes word 4 word, as me and my cousins acted it out, especially Beefy's scene at the end - entering dance hall with big machete tucked down his tight red tracksuit while everyone was bubbling to "Warrior Charge". And yes Karl Howman (from Flash ads) is wickedly funny with his accent "Cho man we dealing pure wickedness" Aaahhh Love it. The film is a masterpiece, don't know why I cant find it on DVD or VHS - if anyone knows where it can be obtained - Please let me know. Also looking for No Problem - UK comedy which starred Janet Kaye, Victor Romero Evans with Beastie and Tosh too!!
