|
A goatherd in a mountain village in Morocco buys a rifle from a neighbor and lets his two young
sons use it to shoot predators attacking their herd. The two boys try to outdo each other in testing the rifle until the younger one, challenged to hit a passing tourist bus
down the valley, aims and hits it.
Hit on the shoulder is Susan (Cate Blanchett), the wife of Richard (Brad Pitt), a couple from San Diego, California, whose marriage is on the rocks. Four hours away by land from civilization, the rest of the tourists impatiently leave the couple behind as the latter await a village doctor and assistance from the American Embassy. Investigation on the Morocco shooting reveals that the rifle owner is a businessman (Koji Yakusho) in Japan who, while still mourning his wife's suicide, is also grappling with the trials of single handedly raising a teenage deaf-mute daughter Chieko (Rinko Kikuchi). Meanwhile, Amelia (Adriana Barraza), an illegal immigrant and the nanny of the couple's children (Elle Fanning and Nathan Gamble), must attend her son's wedding in Mexico. Failing to find her replacement, Amelia decides it's safest to bring the children along to the wedding, but the gleeful celebration ends in a nerve-wracking return trip for the three.
Well deserved are the over-100 awards and nominations Babel
has garnered in various film festivals around the world, including Best Picture, Golden Globe Awards; Best Director at Cannes Film Festival; and Ecumenical Jury Award, plus Technical Grand Prize for Film Editing, also at Cannes. Director Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu creates a puzzle out of Babel, one whose pieces are scattered in four corners of the globe, spanning various cultures and languages and which is to find completion in five days. It boosts Inarritu's reputation as a director par excellence. Visceral is the word to describe Babel: the compelling plot development and the emotionally incisive acting (even from amateurs such as the goat herd brothers) provoke the viewer who appreciates real-life situation drama viewed on screen.
Babel uses one bullet to shoot through and string together four situations in human life, each depicting an agonizing condition that language cannot only not resolve but in fact even does aggravate.
Babel
subtly says that human communication has lagged behind communication technology: indifference, selfishness, loneliness, and plain ignorance spiral into fear and erratic judgment, until man as cause and victim of confusion is further dragged into its seemingly inescapable web. A discerning viewer will detect in
Babel
powerful statements decrying poverty, bigotry, and cold lawfulness, but will also glean from all that excruciating confusion the ember of goodness that burns in the human heart.
(Date Reviewed: 26 January 2007)
|
