ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Loui Blair It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Paulina Palero When one thinks of Iraq it is probable that you have an image of it. Lots of guns and lots of militia all around the cities. This movie shows the other side of it. The side after the images we normally think of. To be able to understand everything in this movie, knowledge about Iraq is required. In 2003 after the fall of Saddam Hussain, the country of Iraq was in a bad place. One of the worst things that were discovered after Saddam's fall were, mass graves, where not all the bodies in them could be identified. Those families who had sons or husbands in the military were forced to look for their relatives in this mass graves and most of the times they were not found. This is the setting for the movie Son of Babylon. Ahmed has never meet his father who was drafted to join the military 12 years ago when Ahmed was born. Ahmed and his grandma, Um Ibrahim, decided to go look for Ahmed's father after she gets a letter from a friend of her son. They go out looking for him with nothing, they are not even sure if they will find him, they hope they will. Their journey is a long and tiresome one. They encounter some people along their way that might be able to help Ahmed at the end of the movie, or at least we hope they will. Their journey begins and ends with tragedy and sadness. Ahmed is forced to become independent and is left with nothing at the end, not even hope. The last scene of the movie is heartbreaking as we see Ahmed play the flute of his father while crying. This movie really shows the effect war has on people. They suffer some more than other and they lose sometimes everything they have. Son of Babylon could be called a roadrtrip movie because we follow our characters on a trip that will change their lives forever but this movie is so much more. It opens a window to a world many of don't even imagine. A beautiful, tearful movie that will make you think about the consequences of war and the importance of family.

himanshug1 I saw this film on DVD at home, but when I saw the this film at the Cinema on a big screen, the impact was far more greater. The soundtrack of the film made it much more gritter in the cinema.In this film we are taken across the Iraq, when young boy Ahmed with his grand mother is going to search his father who has left home 12 years ago, to join the Iraqi army. Their search starts just after fall of Saddam Hussein. We see distraction of Iraq, brought to us by the Director Mohamed Al Daradji, who has written story and script with Jennifer Norridge. Grand Mother speaks Kurdish, which is not understood by many in Iraq, and often Arabic conversations by Iraqi are not understood by Grand mother. These struggle is sharply portrayed.We go through struggles and disappointments with Ahmed and His grandmother. When we arrive to final scenes, I found myself, not affected by the piece of major history portrayed by Daradji. If I force myself to sympathise with Ahmed, I can appreciate his pain, but I had to put myself in him, rather he pulling me in him.More I thought about this point, I think Doradji present the Mass graves, Wailing Iraqi women as dead images, and also not created any meaningful images to audience, about Ahmed's father as a real person. This whole part appears as a documentary presentation.Never the less it is a good film. It should be widely seen.

Jason Lin Diverting away from the usual politically-driven theme, this film of war-torn Iraq seeks fundamental qualities in humanity amidst the very worst situations from the eyes of a grandmother and her grandson in seek of her missing son. The characters have taught us that the slightest shimmers of hope will always be around somewhere during the darkest moments in life and pull us through.Set in the war-hit landscapes of Iraq, we truly get to see the crumbled physical state that the country is left in three weeks after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Location plays a major role in helping to set the foundation of this film that reeks of desolation without a future (notice how barren the lands look without much greenery). From the mass media, we are often brought to the attention of the battle between the US/UN forces and Saddam's regime where a lot of focus are placed on casualty counts and the war development.This film sets to tell a heartfelt story that will never be heard of by the world.Ahmed is a naive young boy who is often optimistic about his life and all that surrounds it, despite being able to see with his own eyes the turmoil of his homeland. Everything is fresh to him, from his missing father's occupation as an Iraqi soldier to greeting the US Marines at check points. During the entire span of this film, Ahmed gets to see the world and attains enlightenment at the end of it.He is not without fears, especially when he is left alone without his grandmother.Surprisingly when they face threats that serve to undo them with injustice, he gathers courage to step up against the tyranny and correct what is wrong. He has the nerves to confront a bus driver for a fare refund when the bus was unable to bring them to Baghdad. This highly signifies the potential and capabilities of the young Iraqi generation who can help do the right thing and rebuild the nation. Likewise Ahmed's grandmother also looks to him for support and courage while mutually reciprocating the same, which represents the elder generation looking towards and pinning hopes on the younger ones for protection.After all, they're only left with each other of what's left in the family (or nation rather).Ahmed's father represents the current working generation that is affected by the cruelties of tyranny and misfortune that have long plagued Iraq. The mass graves discovered are only going to leave a huge trail of grieving families of the dead. I was personally disturbed by the death wailing of the widows at the mass grave sites.Initially leaving home to seek the whereabouts of Ahmed's father with hopes of him being alive, the plot developments later degenerated into a heart-wrenching situation where they have no choice but to be contended with seeking his remains to bring home. This proves to be an arduous task that is bleak, but it has not deter them a single bit.During their journey, they meet interesting characters such as a grumpy old pick-up driver who is cynical about everything and reluctant to take concern in others' matters. He condemns Saddam's regime (interestingly by calling him up during his call of nature) and has stopped placing faith in religion after all that has happened. His opening chapter brought quite a bit of humour through his crude sarcasm, I would say.Ahmed and his grandmother later inspired his love and care to surface.Another fine gentleman who was coerced into killing innocents during the Anfal (mass massacre of the Kurds) greets Ahmed and his grandmother with kind intentions. It wasn't easy for Ahmed's grandmother to put the Anfal behind and see him as a repented man.Son of Babylon speaks a lot about embracing forgiveness and moving on towards a better life and future despite current dark moments with a focus on qualities of humanity over hatred and blame. Largely in credit to Director Mohamed Al Daradji, he has done us a great favour as we gain new insights and valuable lessons in life.

Eternality Winning a couple of awards at the 2010 Berlin Film Festival, this Iraqi film is a heartbreaking look at the consequence of war on the people whose sons were forced to fight in. Told through the sad eyes of a grandmother and her grandson, Ahmed, the film easily tugs at the heartstrings of viewers, who would be fairly impacted by its emotional power as felt through the strong performances of the two leads.In the quest to find his missing father, the resourceful Ahmed and his resolute grandmother trek by foot, and hitch the occasional ride by truck across the hot, arid desert environment of Iraq, moving from one location to another to enquire about the whereabouts of the father. Twelve years were what separated the family when the father was forced to become a soldier to fight for Saddam during the war Iraq was involved in during the early 90s.Shot in the actual Iraqi landscape during the early 2000s when the U.S. was occupying the country, Son of Babylon is like a time capsule of images of a nation devastated by an unjust war. Even though shot as if the camera is trailing these two characters as they witness and experience the effects of war, Daradji's film is not a documentary (even though it looks like one, barring a narrator) but a visual document of the humanitarian issues facing not only Iraq today, but also other nations whose civilians have been or are affected by war.One scene in the film brings a powerful jolt to our senses: Ahmed finds himself alone in a mass grave that has been dug. He squats and sees a human skull protruding out from the soil. He moves his palm close and rests it on the skull. A layer of sand becomes stuck to his palm, and he brings it to his cheek. Is his curiously subtle action a sign of acceptance that his father is long gone and it is pointless to search anymore? A scene later shows his grandmother crying uncontrollably, and we see Ahmed trying to console her.This "emotional maturation" of Ahmed is one of the key (albeit implicit) themes of Son of Babylon. It is significant because his character's feelings toward his father changes dramatically – from one of anger (for not being there to support him), to sadness (of his missing father), to acceptance (of his father's death). The realization of truth as harshly unchangeable is what binds people with a common loss as exemplified in the short scene between the grandmother (who speaks Kurdish) and an Arab-speaking widow, the latter being able to feel for the former's loss even though they do not understand each other.Son of Babylon is more than a road movie about the bonding between grandmother and grandson as they search for a missing loved one. It is a humanistic story about the human cost of war. There seems to be no end to violence and destruction, no time for closure, no time to mourn the dead before another war starts.SCORE: 8/10 (www.filmnomenon.blogspot.com) All rights reserved!