"Babel"

United States, 2006
U.S. Release Date: 10/27/06
Running Length: 2:22
MPAA Classification: R

Cast: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Adriana Barraza, Gael García Bernal, Rinko Kikuchi, Kôji Yakusho
Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Screenplay: Guillermo Arriaga
Cinematography: Rodrigo Prieto

Since there didn’t seem to be any worthwhile movies to be seen in the theater over the weekend, I decided to backtrack and rent Babel since is was recently released to DVD. I was surprised that I missed this one – I always wanted to see it, but I never had the pleasure to until now.

Babel has been one of the most acclaimed and talked about movies of the past year. It was rewarded with seven Oscar nods and won an Oscar for “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score”. The film was also nominated for seven Golden Globes, and walked away with a Golden Globe for “Best Motion Picture – Drama” – just to name a few of the film’s many achievements.

The film is all about the importance and struggles of language and the barriers it can create. It expresses people at their most vulnerable state as minor miscommunications lead to life-changing repercussions.

The film basically consists of four different story lines, three of which are universally connected – the fourth, not so much. The first mini-story talks of two children in Morocco who get their hands on their father’s gun (that is meant for anything trying to kill his sheep) and choose to test it in the wrong place, at the wrong time. One of the boys shoots the gun around a tourist bus when one of the rounds severely injures an American tourist (Cate Blanchett). This intertwines these two stories of the children and two Americans Susan and husband, Robert (Brad Pitt) in a huge international problem with terrorist implication as Susan fights for her life.

Back in America, the third story plays out as Robert and Susan’s two children (Elle Fanning and Nathan Gamble) are brought to Mexico by their nanny, Amelia (Adriana Barraza). Amelia happens to be an illegal immigrant and needs to travel back to Mexico for her son’s wedding. When Robert and Susan are unable to make it home on-time she decides to bring the children back with her. Problems arise as she tries to bring the children back across the border to America.

The fourth story is about a deaf-mute teenager in Japan, Chieko (Rinko Kikuchi) who tries to find affection around her where there is little to be given. Her mother had committed suicide and her father is anything but warm and compassionate. As she tries to find means of compassion, she believes that sleeping with different people around her will fill this void. Her story is eventually brought together with the three other stories in the second half of the film.

I thought that this movie was definitely intense, but very good. It really just shows humans being humans, in elements they are unable to control, as they try their best to make it through unpredictable and difficult situations. There is no villain or “bad guy”, only those who sometimes don’t make the best judgment calls – as we are all guilty of at times in our lives. Bad things happen through out this film, but none are intentional.

Another aspect I admired about this film was how each character is developed in his or her unique way. They each stand out as their own person, but ebb and flow with those around them without losing sight of the overall picture.

I think Babel is one of the few films that I strongly would suggest to anyone. It is memorable not only for the story line itself, but for the characters and moving cinematography.

Personal Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Further information can be found at iMDB.com