Since its release on January 20, 2023, Babylon, Damien Chazelle’s highly anticipated 2023 film, has been making headlines. The film is filled with some of Hollywood’s biggest names; Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Tobey Maguire, and Olivia Wilde are just a few of the high profile actors featured in the film.
The 3-hour epic chronicles the rise and fall of the film’s multiple characters during the golden age of cinema, the 1920s. With no shortage of spectacle and Hollywood decadence, the shocking and often horror has many fans wondering if Babylon is based on a true story. In addition to offering an explanation for the film’s puzzling ending, here we answer the question “Is Babylon based on a true story?”
Is Babylon based on a true story?
Babylon is, and is not, based on a true story. Although the intricacies of the film’s story are not based on a singular, accurate account of anyone’s real-life experience in Hollywood in the 1920s, the film was inspired by the true and exploitative history of cinema. and the film industry.
For example, as Time Magazine reports, Margot Robbie’s character LaRoy was based on the stories of a combination of silent film stars who, like LaRoy, struggled with addiction and failed to make the transition. from silent films to “talkies”.
Speaking to Time Magazine, director Damien Chazelle explained: “The more I researched those early Hollywood days, the more I realized how crazy that time was. It was this sort of larger-than-life assemblage of misfits that got together and built a city and a new industry out of nothing.
“I didn’t feel like this kind of crazy behavior had been accurately captured on film before, and I wanted to present their lives and lifestyles in an unvarnished and totally unsanitized way.”
Why is the movie Babylon called Babylon?
The 2023 movie Babylon is named after the real ancient city of Babylon, which was the capital of the ancient Babylonian Empire in Mesopotamia. In the Bible’s book of Genesis, the famous Tower of Babel is built in Babylon, and it is from this tower that God separates people across the earth and confounds their language. Because of this story, Babylon became the symbol of a wicked city.
Babylon also has associations with the Hebrew word Balal, which Screen Rant says means to confuse by mixing. Using Babylon as the film’s title has led many to speculate that the director, Damien Chazelle, makes it clear that Hollywood is, at least in his eyes, a city of confusion and sin.
The end of Babylon explained
The end of Babylon attempts to encapsulate the journeys of multiple characters in one neat closing scene. But, like the movie that follows a myriad of plots with a myriad of characters, the ending leaves a lot of confusion.
What happens to Manny Torres at the end of Babylon?
At least one of Babylon’s main characters gets a somewhat happy ending. Returning to Los Angeles after being forced out of Hollywood and spending several years away from the film industry, Manny Torres finds that his contribution has left a lasting mark on Hollywood – just as he had hoped.
Showing his family where he worked, Manny realizes that his efforts, alongside those of Nellie LaRoy and Jack Conrad, were worth all the hardships even though their names had been forgotten.
What happens to Nellie LaRoy at the end of Babylon?
Unable to escape the glitz and fame promised by Hollywood, the debts she had accumulated and the terrifying James McKay to whom she also owed her debts, Nellie LaRoy fails to give herself a better life and get rid of Drugs.
Viewers learn from an on-screen newspaper clipping that she was found dead in a hotel room at just 34 years old. While the death of shrouded in mystery, the suggestion is that she died of an overdose.
Why did Jack Conrad commit suicide in Babylon?
At the end of Babylon, Jack Conrad dies by suicide after being unable to cope with the suicide of his friend George and the reality of his declining acting career.
What happened to Sidney Palmer at the end of Babylon?
After Sidney Palmer left Hollywood due to the racism he faced, he forged a successful career playing in a jazz band at clubs and lounges. Although he never returned to acting, Screen Rant speculates he likely continued to lead his own jazz band, playing in cities across America.