Babel (2006)

Trailer

Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Format: DVD
DVD Features: audio, subtitles
Starring: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Adrianna Barraza, Rinko Kikuchi
Trailer

It’s amazing how many films have been born from biblical stories. From The Passion of the Christ to Pinocchio, The Book has inspired countless cinematic interpretations. Not being the churchgoing type myself, I am only familiar with the most famous stories – Cain and Abel, Jonah and the Whale, The Garden of Eden, etc. But I’ve always been fascinated by the concept that God would curse the tongues of man in order to discourage their cooperation. It doesn’t seem condusive to peace at all, and I think that was one point among many that the director of Babel was trying to make.

Babel is a collection of four tales which are each in different tongues, but all connected in one way or another. One part of the story revolves around two boys herding goats in the hills of Morocco. Their father buys a rifle so that the family can protect their herd from jackals. But, the weapon soon becomes a source of competition between the boys and they compete to see who the better marksman is. The Second segment involves an American couple (Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett) who are vacationing overseas in the hopes of reconciliation after her tragic miscarriage. That issue becomes moot very shortly, when the woman is seriously injured. Back at home, their two children, Debbie and Mike, are being cared for by their Mexican housekeeper, Amelia (Adrianna Barraza). When the parents are away longer than expected, Amelia has to decide to either miss her son’s wedding across the border, or take the children on a field trip. The fourth part of the movie involves a deaf and mute Japanese girl, Cheiko (Rinko Kikuchi), with a longing for physical affection. She not only has the recent death of her mother to deal with, but her feeling of alienation from men drives her to drastic measures.

Alejandro González Iñárritu is the director of both Babel and a movie called Amores Perros. Both films feature several different stories seemingly separate, but in some way linked. Like Amores Perros, Babel shows each part of the tale a little at a time, and not always sequenced in chronological order (very similar to what Quentin Tarantino did with Pulp Fiction). However, I didn’t enjoy the more recent film as much his 2000 movie. The story of Cheiko is linked to the other three stories only by a minor detail. The other three stories share a much closer connection. But, Cheiko’s story is by far the more compelling. All the tales deal with a barrier of some type, not necessarily language, but culture and distance.

When I first finished watching Babel, I was left wondering, “Why did Iñárritu make this film? What was he trying to say?” It was only upon further meditation and conversation that I arrived at the broader theme. Why was this movie nominated for an Academy Award? I think it’s the exact formula that The Academy looks for. It was a Hollywood version of an “art house” film. Its aim is to make the audience feel as if they are examining a deeper philosophy, without actually pondering any real controversial material. It’s a façade. There is also present the familiar flavor of terrorism, which has been a popular theme in Hollywood since 9/11.

With so many worthwhile films released this year, Babel isn’t at the top of my list. It strikes me as the kind of film that upper-middle class Anglos go to in order to make themselves feel worldly and cultured. And afterwards, they pop off to Starbucks for a latte and forget all about the messages they could have gleaned from the experience.

Overall Rating: 3
Hottie Rating: 2 (for cute Japanese guys)

Alternate Viewing: Amores Perros
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Deep Focus review

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