rating:
(out of
4 stars)France, United States, Mexico; 2006
Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu; produced by Steve Golin, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Jon Kilik; written by Guillermo Arriaga
Starring Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Gael García Bernal, Adriana Barraza, Rinko Kikuchi, Michael Peña
Below you will find a temporary review for this film. The real (better, more complete) review will be online very soon.
As with Alejandro González Iñárritu's 'Amores Perros' and '21 Grams' I was
impressed with 'Babel', probably rating it between those two, 'Amores
Perros' still being the best. In this third film the director tells another
story which exists out of multiple story lines, slowly coming together. This
is not done in a chronological way, although here, probably more than in his
other films, it is more clear when what happens.
The first story takes place in Marocco where an American tourist (Cate
Blanchet) is accidentally shot by a young boy. We follow both the reactions
of her husband (Brad Pitt) and the other tourists on the bus that has been
shot, and at the same time the boy, who was herding goats with his brother.
The tourist being shot causes problems in the United States where her
children are being taken care of by a Mexican woman who needs to attend a
wedding in Mexico. She is driven by her nephew (Gael García Bernal). The
third part of the story takes place in Tokyo, linked in a less obvious way
one might expect. There we follow a deaf girl who has lost her mother and is
now looking for love and acceptance.
All these story lines, even small details from it, handle with
misunderstanding. Americans in Marocco don't understand the language but
can't get used to the customs either. The other tourist don't understand the
actions of the husband who wants the best for his wife, and on the same time
we have come to understand that they too have issues on their own. These are
only a couple of examples from only one storyline; the film is filled with
them.
What we get here is a film that takes the most devastating path to show what
happens in situations like this. If we could only understand other points of
view, most problems in the world could be solved seems the optimistic
message one might take from this. Although 'Babel' is an impressive film
there is a small problem here. Didn't we already understand this problem? I
mean, those who don't probably don't get this film either. Iñárritu really
wants to make this point, why would you call the film 'Babel' if that was
not the case, and succeeds, but it feels like preaching to the choir.
Still, I have repeatedly said this is an impressive film and it is. Superbly
directed by Iñárritu and very well shot, edited and acted (although I am not
sure whether the big names were really needed). If Iñárritu does not tell us
something new, at least he tells it good.