"Babel."

By Alison Willmore on 10/26/2006

Post-tower life. You can't fault "Babel" for its ambition â€” the far-reaching film ties together storylines in Morocco, Mexico and Japan to reassure us that we are all united in our human misery. Here's what you can fault it for: grievous self-seriousness and self-importance, and the squandering of some of the year's finer performances.

We're tempted to lay the blame at the feet of screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga, who's collaborated with director Alejandro GonzÃ¡lez IÃ±Ã¡rritu on three films now, and whose fondness for interlocking storylines may demand an intervention. In "Amores Perros," the first and best of the three, the trinity of storylines flowed from to another, their thematic ties at least as important as their narrative ones. "21 Grams" balanced out its more portentous ideas about fate with temporal trickery. In "Babel," the pieces snap together as neatly as a jigsaw puzzle, and for what? If you haven't already guessed the connections by the final reveal, you still won't get a whit of satisfaction from them. "Babel" wants to portray individuals lost and adrift in world in which they are unable to communicate, where they are left to rely on underlying human goodness and empathy to carry them through, but the film can't just let these ideas emerge. Instead, they're threaded together via awkward convulsions of narrative â€” if a butterfly flaps its wings in northern Africa, there will be five plot devices in San Diego the next day.

In Morocco, a vacationing American couple (Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett) are trying to patch up their marriage after the death of a child. A local family has just made a major purchase: a rifle, intended for keeping jackals away from their goats. The two adolescent sons impulsively decide to try out the gun's range by firing at a bus rounding a turn on the road below, unintentionally wounding Blanchett's character. The bus is halfway between towns â€” the nearest hospital is hours away. In San Diego, a housekeeper (Adriana Barraza) is stranded with her two tow-headed charges on the day of her son's wedding. At a lost for what to do, she takes them with her across the border to Mexico, but trouble at the border on the way back leaves the three stranded in the desert. In Japan, a sullen deaf-mute schoolgirl (Rinko Kikuchi) rages inwardly against the place she's been given in society, and struggles in her distant relationship with her father (Koji Yakusho).

"Babel" is an infuriating film because there are near-brilliant moments mixed in with all the ham-fisted storytelling and simplistic sentiment. Kikuchi is incandescent, particularly in a scene set in a crowded Tokyo nightclub where periodic point-of-view shots remind us that for her, everything is unfolding silently. Pitt is admirably anguished and meat-headed; his American is more a incoherent one than an ugly one â€” that duty falls to the (well, European) tourists on their bus and the border guards in Tecate. Barraza is very good in the most ridiculous of the storylines, one that relies on Gael GarcÃa Bernal as a disreputable relative to do something so unbelievable it's impossible to take what follows seriously.

The title of the film refers to the story in Genesis in which God renders mankind unable to communicate in a single language after a united attempt to build a tower to heaven, but it also brings to mind the fall of other, more recent towers. "Babel" is a less egregious example of congratulatory liberal self-flagellation than "Crash," but it does find its way up there, as the American government seizes upon the random gunshot as a terrorist attack and engages in diplomatic bullying with the Moroccans, which prevents any help actually reaching the couple in need. Pitt's character, frantic on the phone with the embassy, tries to get an ambulance to his wife before she bleeds to death, but receives only assurances that whoever did this will be punished. We can flip on the news and hate ourselves in the comfort of our own home with more nuance, thank you â€” worth a thousand times more is the moment when he tries to thank the guide who has stayed with them, hosted them and helped them steadfastly throughout the ordeal. His face registers that the gesture is clumsy and tawdry, but he helplessly reaches into his wallet anyway and tries to hand the man a wad of cash.

Opens in New York and L.A. on October 27th.

+ "Babel" (Paramount Vantage)

Filmbrain

Excellent review, Alison. Couldn't agree more.

What I find curious about the film is that language is never really a cause for concern for any character -- Pitt has an interpreter and the kids understand Spanish. Yes, Rinko Kikuchi has a bit of a problem, but therein lies some of the ham-fistedness you refer to.

In hindsight, I think Kikuchi's story could have made for a fine film on its own.

Laura Preston

We are the world, we are the jackals...

I agree with you, Alison. Great review.

I was not surprised to see Americans portrayed yet again as self-absorbed, xenophobic imperialists through the actions of ugly-American tourists, and "statements" given by U.S. representatives in Babel's "media." Funny, I think the U.S. bends over backwards NOT to assume terrorism in today's volitile climate...

But this forward-thinking filmmaker in his neo-postmodern epic manages to present every female character as either a victim, a pawn, or a seductress. We aren't asked to feel much sympathy for the American wife who is obviously discomfited by the unsanitary surroundings in the dirty backwards foreign country, until she is shot. There's little communication between her and her husband until he assists her with a basic bodily function-- this romantic moment manages to inspire a thankfully brief spike of passion between the two.

The Moroccan man's young daughter puts on a peep show for her younger brother, while her oppressed mom sits silently by.

And the Japanese deaf girl is frustrated by the sense of self-worth she derives from men, causing her to act out inappropriately by exposing herself sexually to complete strangers. The squirmiest scene, though, is when she stands naked with her father, and he doesn't seem in the least bit alarmed, only sad and perhaps concerned for the poor handicapped girl. I just didn't buy the casualness of this scene that takes place in one of the most traditional and conservative industrialized societies in the world.

Not even the nanny is safe as she lets herself be groped by a "mature" male friend at the wedding party (but only after she learns that he is now a widower).

Granted, the men are all pretty much hard-headed, violent, and hair-triggered with both guns and their "emotions."

With a perfect opportunity to show diversity while conveying that we are all more alike than we are different (a utopian concept at best), the film seems to present men as being pretty much alike everywhere, while relegating women to the thankless role of "other."

Not my complete take on "Babel," just another perspective.

Good points: fine performances, interesting structure, and viscerally impressive cinematography and editing. So much potential to say and do so much more.

Denise Bennett

I liked the movie. I like when a movie shows me or prompts me to feel something about myself that I had not previously considered. In this instance I was shown how I valued the lives of the little white children more than I valued the lives of any of the other characters. This type of information always surprises me since I try to live my life without bias. Although I do not embrace this type of bias, I like to take a look at it when it presents itself. I agree with the other writers in their reviews, but as to the scene between father and daughter, I was left to question what was in the note that she passed to the police officer that would have helped to clarify the questions surrounding their (father/daughter) troubled relationship.
Overall, didn't think the title "Babel" was really epitamized in the film.

LOVED the movie! When I heard that the writer and director of 21 Grams and Amorres Perros were getting together to work on a thrid film, I was excited to see what their third project would be like. I definitely wasn't disappointed. Here's an interview I found with writer Gillermo Arriaga. He talks about writing Babel, his past, and some future projects he has in the works. You can find it here: http://tinyurl.com/27sl4a

Lucinda

If Amelia the housekeeper/nanny was deported, how did she answer the phone at the end when Pitt called from the hospital? Confusing...

snow white

To Ed - I understood from the film that the stories were not running concurrantly. In the beginning Amelia has her boss on the phone who tells her she cannot go to her son's wedding. Then in the last scene, Brad Pitt is on the phone to Amelia, but says that "Rachel" is coming in to take care of the kids so she can go... this is a complete twist to the film. I asked everyone who saw it if they noticed this, and if therefore, the whole episode in Mexico actually never happened..... what does anyone else think?