Babel

by Ari

Babel opens in the dry, open desert of Morroco, where a father of three children, two boys and a girl, purchases a rifle to kill the jackals that dwell in the area. When he purchases the rifle, he has his two boys learn how to use it. The eldest son is a terrible shot, while his younger brother has steady control and more precise aim. The boys venture off in the mountains to test the rifle, disputing its efficiency. A bus makes its way across a road in the distance, and the younger boy bets his brother he can hit it. According to the man who sold the rifle, it can reach a distance of up to 300 kilometers, something the boys hardly believe. So the young boy takes aim and shoots, the bus suddenly stops, and panic ensues. They realize someone is either hurt or dead, and flee the scene.

So begins Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s ambitious final chapter to a thematically connected trilogy that began with Amores Perros and continued with 21 Grams. If Amores Perros was the promising introduction and 21 Grams the powerful middle-chapter, then Babel is the epic of the trilogy, the most powerful and deep film experience Inarritu has given us. Babel is about family and love, pain and loss, awakening and forgiveness. Inarritu is a filmmaker who layers his stories and characters with an honest, profound emotional and thematic depth, and with Babel his vision has never been as vast or affecting. As much about the fragility of existence as it is an exploration of the heart, Babel is a profound statement on the nature of hope. The best filmmakers understand how to examine a thematic idea without preaching or manipulating, something Inarritu thankfully avoids. This is real, immediate storytelling done with the passion of a significant artist that actually has something pivotal to say. He expresses himself through the fully-realized and believable characters written with feeling and realism by the exceptionally talented Guillermo Arriaga, his creative partner of the trilogy. With Babel, Innaritu has now elevated himself into the top-tier of international filmmakers, a more than noteworthy voice in contemporary film.

Richard (Brad Pitt) and his wife Susan (Cate Blanchett) are travelling in Morocco on a much needed vacation, a chance to sort out some serious problems they’ve been facing at home. Inarritu and Arriaga reveal important character details over the course of the film with subtlety, never breaking the immediacy of the moment with excessive exposition. They have two children at home being watched by their nanny, Amelia (Adriana Barraza), who wants desperately to have some time off so she can make her son’s wedding in Mexico. Because of an emergency situation, Richard demands that she stay with his children and watch over them until things are sorted out. As Richard and Susan are sitting in a tour bus making its way across the Moroccan desert, a bullet blasts through the window hitting Susan in the side of her neck. Not knowing what to do, Richard desperately agrees to take her to the nearest village where they can wait for help. Once there, his fellow tour-guide passengers become increasingly fed up with the situation, fearing for their lives because of their location and suffering from the desert’s incredible heat. Richard tries to contact the American embassy, which in turn spins the incident into a terrorist crisis.

In Japan, Yasijiro (the great Koji Yakusho of The Eel and Shall We Dance) is having trouble with his daughter, Cheiko (Rinko Kikuchi), a deaf-mute who’s starving for emotional attachment. Both of them are mourning the suicide of her mother, struggling to reach out to each other and gain a sense of emotional understanding. Cheiko wants nothing more than to be treated like an actual person, especially from the opposite sex. In one particular case, she deals with the humiliation of being rejected by removing her underwear and flashing the boys around her. She also wants her father to pay more attention to her, often times feeling neglected and alone. Chieko is angry, lonely, without the care and support she needs. She’s an ordinary, somewhat spunky young girl treated unfairly by a world that doesn’t understand her.

Meanwhile, Amelia decides to take Richard and Susan’s children to Mexico so she can attend the wedding, getting her nephew, Santiago (Gael Bernal) to drive her from San Diego. It’s not the best decision, and they all pay severely for it, including the children. These four stories unfold in mostly linear fashion, eventually crossing and connecting. The narrative structure is taut for its length, even if certain situations with Amelia and the children are too convenient and dramatically excessive for their own good. It’s highly unlikely so many terrible things would simultaneously happen to both the parents and children of a family, and in so dramatic a way. Amelia’s story may be the most far-fetched, but it’s still well-acted and exciting enough not to deter from the main thematic arc. Most of the material in Mexico is excellent, so one minor misstep doesn’t take too much away from an otherwise strong story. When the children enter Mexico, the girl says, “my mom told me Mexico is dangerous”, only to have Bernal respond with, “Yeah...there are a lot of Mexicans!”. At the wedding, a joyous occasion that contrasts the nightmarish situations in the other stories, the children are entertained by the festivities and shocked by the difference in culture. In the film’s most amusing moment, Richard’s son is stunned silent as he watches Bernal swing around a chicken by its head, ripping it clean off.

Babel is a movie filled with incredible performances. Pitt and Blanchett fit into a mostly international cast surprisingly well, giving real and powerful performances. Pitt’s character fights for Susan’s survival, aided by the tour guide who brings them to his village. There’s a moment towards the end of this story that moved me to tears - an emotional reaction it absolutely earns. This is Pitt’s best work since 12 Monkeys, a strong reminder that he’s capable of being more than a simple movie star.

The most extraordinary performances and emotionally wrenching material is found in the stories involving the Moroccan boys and the Japanese girl. There’s a deep sadness to the events that unfold with the young boys. Inarritu builds a nervous tension as the young brothers face the inevitable consequences for their mistakes. The boys were careless, but not evil. It’s difficult to tell whether Inarritu used real actors or non-actors for this segment, but the youngest brother gives one of the most unforgettable performances I’ve seen in film this year. The realism of this segment reminded me of the brilliant City of God, perhaps the highest compliment I can give.

Rinko Kikuchi is astonishing as Cheiko, providing the film’s deepest, most sensational performance. Inarritu could’ve easily made this one story into its own film. The emotional climax to this segment is unpredictable and moving, the final thematic note to an engrossing, beautiful film. Babel is an inspired and ambitious work, one of the best films of the year.