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Babel

Babel

I haven't seen this movie but the reviews are great. It was nominated for at least 3 Oscars including Best Picture. Alejandro González Iñárritu is the director with Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Gael Garcia Bernal, Koji Yakusho, Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi.

https://www.movieweb.com/movies/film/68/3768/synopsis.php

Babel

Babel is one of the best cinema experiences I"ve had. I would say it is the best movie I have seen since Million Dollar Baby.

The movie begins with a mischievous experiment by two shepherd boys in Morocco. Their ill-fated games reverberate through the lives of their family, US tourists (played by Pitt and Blanchett), a Mexican illegal-immigrant housekeeper who looks after Pitt's children, and the life of a deaf Japanese teenager.

Babel tackles the fallout of human ambition through a series of challenging issues, including stereotypes and hardships suffered by deaf people, the cruel double-life and treatment of illegal immigrants, and how westerners cope and react to African hospitality.

At first you fail to see how these storylines connect. As the plot progresses the themes are cleverly linked, but neither dominates. Each sub-plot delves into human agony in a brutally honest and heart-felt way.

The immensely talented filmmakers of Babel are behind the highly acclaimed 21 grams. In this movie they have created a similarly rough-shot, chaotic and chilling masterpiece that will have you clinging to the edge of your seats throughout. I felt this movie was more organised than 21 Grams as you can attach on the plot and relate to the themes more seamlessly.

It is also extremely refreshing to find a movie where A-list celebs like Pitt and Blanchett play second fiddle to relatively unknown actors like the brilliant Japanese teen Rinko Kikuchi and the believable housekeeper.

This is not the usual formulaic, dummed-down piece of Hollywood eye candy. It is a film that will make you think and keep your heart racing. I couldn't stop thinkiong about it for a week. This means it will not be everyone's cup of tea.

Unfortunately, tired and uninspiring block-buster action flicks like The Departed will do better at the box office and Oscars - but perhaps that is a blessing. Babel is well above what we come to expect from LA studios these days. It gets 4 ½ stars from me.

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This is one of the most realistic movies I have ever saw in a while, nevertheless there are certain parts (and I am not talking about the nudity one) that I could do without but I understand the director trying to show the extreme and desperation of certain individuals and when you think about it, these things do happen under those circumstances.

One of the many messages of the movie is that tragedy can hit to anyone anywhere. This is a tale of unfortunate events that when you think things are going to get better (like most Hollywood movies)l they in fact get worst (as sometimes happen in real life) but hope is what get everyone going.

Every event is closely connected with each other and what is happening thousands of miles away from you can in fact affect your life and change it forever.

The movie is full of stereotypes that people do see and feel in real life! (that was the best part of the movie) The director tried to overemphasized the lack of exposure to other cultures than most Americans seem to lack and what shapes their views about other races and ethnicities.

You may also need to follow closely time events otherwise you may get lost.

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Babel

As I watched this movie I was trying to figure out what went wrong and what made each of the families connect and the answer is this: placing your family first. This to me was the main theme of the movie. Here is how I see it.

The Father of Two Sons
He obviously took for granted that these boys knew what they were supposed to do, but gave them no formal training. He could have sat with them, showed them how to use a gun responsibly.

The Japanese Girl and her Father
Here again the Girl was crying out to be accepted, but the father obviously was not fulfilling that need and so she turned to the wrong source: friends and strangers.

The Mexican Nanny and the Two Kids
She was desperately irresponsible. In the end she returned back to the same son she left behind. It was obvious that there was love and family for her in Mexico, but she rather be far from them as a nanny in the US? Maybe there was a financial need, but regardless, it is gone now.

The Man and his wife in Morocoo
Again the wife is crying out to be accepted. Both these parents - what were they doing leaving their kids behind and traveling through territory where they could get lost, die, etc.? If they died what would have happened to the kids?

Of course the other theme is choices and mistakes. Things we do can have global consequences.

Lastly, there is the subtle tone of... being out of your 'correct' environment. Now, there may be disagreement about this, but consider the gun did not belong in the boys' hands - maybe a sling? The Mexican lady did not belong in the US? Brad and his wife did not belong in Morocco. The Japanese girl who felt life was grossly unfair did not belong with those who she thinks are her friends?

Babel

Good analysis JB. I also think an stupidity factor takes place in each one of the stories although one of the main themes seem to be misunderstanding and the fact that people are not taking the time to listen. Babel is the tower that the Bible described some men tried to build to reach heaven and God got angry at them and confused their languages. (That's the reason for their title). Some thoughts on your review:

She was indeed extremely irresponsible, from the time Pitt told her that he and his wife will not be able to return at the time they arranged, she goes to different friends to ask them to watch over the kids because she needed to go to her son's wedding, she did not communicate this to Pitt neither got permission to take them to a trip to Mexico. (this is another theme on the movie: "communication"). She continued showing stupidity and carelessness by allowing her drunk nephew to drive her and the kids back to the US. Once they are left in the desert, she leaves them alone in the middle of no where in order to get help. Stupidity.

They were in a trip, I suppose a type of healing trip after the death of their baby. That's why she is so reluctant to do this trip nevertheless he (Pitt) is not really listening and cannot understand why she is so stressed and angry. She never needed the trip, she needed her husband.

The US embassy is not really listening to Pitt's needs and the media rushed what was expected to say in a middle east country shooting involving an American tourist: A terrorist attack.

It is marvelous the way the Mexican director shows the reaction of the couple and the rest of the Americans in the bus to the hospitality of the people in the village who they consider to be "primitive" (even though they do not mention this, it is clear). Yet, in the end these "primitive" people are the ones who ended up helping the couple while the rest of the Americans leave them in the middle of nowhere because they are hot and have no air conditioning. It's the same people whose Pitt's wife does not trust that saves her life. The director did a terrific job showing the incredible lack of exposure to other cultures that Americans have in general.

This is the typical case of an absent father. Notice how late it was and this teen was unsupervised doing all these crazy things? Yes, she wanted to be accepted but most of all she craved human contact while dealing with the suicide of her own mother.

The father did not know how powerful that rifle was (he was bad advised by the guy who sold it to him) Would it be necessary for him to have tell them that they should not shoot at cars? Maybe we reason they are kids..they are not supposed to have guns. Yet, we are talking about a completly different culture where probably is widely accepted, nevertheless the father realizes that while he is out working all day, his kids are doing things he has no clue about neither their mother who is with them all day. Stupidity.


Pitt's performance is excellent as well as the actress playing the nanny.

Babel

This can also be considered very irresponsible, especially since the woman is not the parent as the US immigration officer told her at the end of the movie.

That is debatable. I believe we have covered some of the pros and cons of moving from a position in the Survival Board - but that is another topic.

Well, in all fairness... the people were very primitive and you have not considered that the reason they were there in the first place was based on a 'terrorist' shooting. I am sure they were all thinking that the terrorists could possibly be in that village.

Well, the answer to this is YES. The fact is... you do not give two idle boys a rifle to shoot jackals unless you give them a proper sit down and preaching. You could see they needed it just by the way they reacted to it when Bengal offered for one of the sons of his friend to test it.

Babel

I won't say so. His wife has been shot! He is in the middle of no where, no ambulances, anything, he did not have a choice really since this nanny has been taking care of these kids since they were born.

Also, did you all notice how similar in look is the little blonde girl to Dakota Fanning? That's her sister.

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In the remote sands of the Moroccan desert, a rifle shot rings out- detonating a chain of events that will link an American tourist couple's frantic struggle to survive, two Moroccan boys involved in an accidental crime, a nanny illegally crossing into Mexico with two American children, and a Japanese teen rebel whose father is sought by the police in Tokyo. Separated by clashing cultures and sprawling distances, each of these four disparate groups of people are nevertheless hurtling towards a shared destiny of isolation and grief. In the course of just a few days, they will each face the dizzying sensation of becoming profoundly lost - lost in the desert, lost to the world, lost to themselves - as they are pushed to the farthest edges of confusion and fear as well as to the very depths of connection and love.