“Stop everything” – these two words are at the same time the catchphrase and the fundamental concept of the movie. This is the main idea of thee short film itself, as well as its content.
In French, the title means “babbling” and this word should be the starting point for our reflections on the essence of the director’s main thought. How often do we contemplate on how much motions, noises and images fill up our lives? What happens when we push the lever and turn off all the unnecessary things?
Gregory Robin tries to show his answer to these questions. He begins with his interpretation of the world around us, discreetly showing what we face every day, and finally leads us to discover what stays with us and, on the other hand, what is completely irrelevant. At the same time, the decision about how to interpret the opinion of the author can only be made by the viewers themselves.
The film seems longer than it is. The multifaceted nature of the created image does not allow the viewer to discover its main idea right away. The atmosphere of the movie encourages the viewers to feel calm, contemplate it, and even meditate. The author does not provide the viewers with much information, revealing them the stream of consciousness, in which the viewer himself should arrange a puzzle with all the clues and details that, like a trace of crumbs, the author left in his work.
“Babil” is one of these films that are nagging your head for hours, or even days, after the screening. And yet it is possible to discover newer and newer interpretations of Robin’s original idea.
Mikita Pratashchyk