Babel Mixing in geopolitics, along with intimate overlapping stories about parents and children, in a thematically complex and utterly compelling style, "Babel", is Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu's third film, is the closing finale to the film trilogy that includes his groundbreaking debut "Amores Perros", and the raw and gripping "21 Grams", "Babel" is his most ambitious, and powerful film to date.
Returning with writer Guillermo Arriago, who also wrote "Amores Perros", and "21 Grams", will be the last film they will ever work on together. What a dynamic duo these two talents are, its quite possibly one of the most talented film-making duo's in the business today, other then the duo of Spike Jonez & Charlie Kaufman" Where "Amores Perros" was also an affecting and powerful film, the overlapping story lines weren't as evenly constructed as "Babel". Where "21 Grams" also had a muddled, jumbled narrative, the characters were given raw complexity, but not as much emotional weight as the characters are given in "Babel". Its safe to say "Babel" is the crowning work in the trilogy.
Using the same narrative structure used in "Amores Perros", and "21 Grams", which both films were influenced by the nonlinear strategy of "Pulp Fiction", these are interlocking stories, where the parallel editing is not in simultaneous action. The use of this structure at times comes off a little too stylistic in other films, however Arriago always deftly uses the overlapping structure that never undermines the material.
With four interlocking stories, in four different settings that include Mexico, Morocco, Japan, and southern California, all the stories have rhythms of tragedy, loss, miscommunication, and redemption. The first tragedy occurs, where two Moroccan boys fire a shot at a bus, that leads to a World-Wide tragic of an American couple (Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett) that are traveling to Morocco. The other is about a Mexican Nanny, the third story is a Japanese father and rebellious daughter in Tokyo.
All these characters fit in the theme of loss, that is both physical and emotional. All these tragedies are heightened by the lack of understanding and miscommunication in a post 9/11 world. The title is a reference to a biblical term that indicates the difficulties of understanding languages.
Ambitiously shot in the real settings of countries that include Mexico, Japan, and Morroco, and using the native languages, "Babel" brilliantly establishes the failure of human communication and connection. The characters in "Babel" are trapped and lost in their own isolated worlds of despair. The specifics in the film illuminate this, take for example the first tale of Richard and Susan, they are in Morocco, they are isolated, emotionally and physically in a far Third-World country.
It's revealed in the film that they have recently experienced the lost of one of their children, in a tragedy that both characters hold responsible for each other. They haven't recovered from the tragedy yet, there is a sense there is a lack of intimacy and chemistry between the two, and its noticeable in a striking and equally affecting scene where Susan is suffering from her bullet wound, and she needs to go the bathroom and Richard gets her a pan, and their interaction hints at something that has been missing since the tragedy. This section of the film is the most raw, gripping, and shattering one of the three.
The second tale is probably the most absorbing one of the three. Its revealed Amelia is an illegal immigrant nanny for Richard and Susan in San Diego. She's in dire need to attend her son's wedding in Mexico, and travels back to Mexico with her irresponsible nephew Santiago (Gael Garcia Bernal), she illegally sneaks the kids across the border to the wedding. On the way back home, they are interrogated by border men. The incident leads an escape, to Amelia and the kids being stranded in the desert.
This story is probably the most personal for both Innaritu and Arriago. This tale is the parable of the three, to capture how hypocritical and arbitrary the border policy are in both the Mexican and American governments. Its revealed that Amelia was a working in America for 10 years, that raised children of an embassy official, and she is given no regard in either country.
The third story, which is the most literal, is where the rich nuances are. Its about a Japanese father (Koji Yokusho) trying to reach out emotionally to his deaf daughter Chieko (Rinko Kikuchi). Chiecko is shattered by the suicide of her mother, and she endures desperate heights in trying to reach out for affection and understanding. This is the story where some will dismiss "Babel" as being manipulative or unconvincing, especially the way this story is linked to the Morroco narrative, however this is where the rich and honest pathos lies.
There is an astonishing disco scene where we get the point-of-view and reaction shots Chieko inside a dance club, where sound goes in and out as we get a glimpse of what Chiecko is experiencing. Kikuchi captures every nuance and vulnerability in this role, just look at how fragile the scene is when she stands naked on the balcony in her own isolated world of Tokyo.
Essentially, "Babel" is a beautiful, and equally shattering portrait of a world in crises. "Babel" is galvanizing, and will internally stay inside the memories of cinephiles, its so unforgettable.
Rating **** out of ****
Returning with writer Guillermo Arriago, who also wrote "Amores Perros", and "21 Grams", will be the last film they will ever work on together. What a dynamic duo these two talents are, its quite possibly one of the most talented film-making duo's in the business today, other then the duo of Spike Jonez & Charlie Kaufman" Where "Amores Perros" was also an affecting and powerful film, the overlapping story lines weren't as evenly constructed as "Babel". Where "21 Grams" also had a muddled, jumbled narrative, the characters were given raw complexity, but not as much emotional weight as the characters are given in "Babel". Its safe to say "Babel" is the crowning work in the trilogy.
Using the same narrative structure used in "Amores Perros", and "21 Grams", which both films were influenced by the nonlinear strategy of "Pulp Fiction", these are interlocking stories, where the parallel editing is not in simultaneous action. The use of this structure at times comes off a little too stylistic in other films, however Arriago always deftly uses the overlapping structure that never undermines the material.
With four interlocking stories, in four different settings that include Mexico, Morocco, Japan, and southern California, all the stories have rhythms of tragedy, loss, miscommunication, and redemption. The first tragedy occurs, where two Moroccan boys fire a shot at a bus, that leads to a World-Wide tragic of an American couple (Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett) that are traveling to Morocco. The other is about a Mexican Nanny, the third story is a Japanese father and rebellious daughter in Tokyo.
All these characters fit in the theme of loss, that is both physical and emotional. All these tragedies are heightened by the lack of understanding and miscommunication in a post 9/11 world. The title is a reference to a biblical term that indicates the difficulties of understanding languages.
Ambitiously shot in the real settings of countries that include Mexico, Japan, and Morroco, and using the native languages, "Babel" brilliantly establishes the failure of human communication and connection. The characters in "Babel" are trapped and lost in their own isolated worlds of despair. The specifics in the film illuminate this, take for example the first tale of Richard and Susan, they are in Morocco, they are isolated, emotionally and physically in a far Third-World country.
It's revealed in the film that they have recently experienced the lost of one of their children, in a tragedy that both characters hold responsible for each other. They haven't recovered from the tragedy yet, there is a sense there is a lack of intimacy and chemistry between the two, and its noticeable in a striking and equally affecting scene where Susan is suffering from her bullet wound, and she needs to go the bathroom and Richard gets her a pan, and their interaction hints at something that has been missing since the tragedy. This section of the film is the most raw, gripping, and shattering one of the three.
The second tale is probably the most absorbing one of the three. Its revealed Amelia is an illegal immigrant nanny for Richard and Susan in San Diego. She's in dire need to attend her son's wedding in Mexico, and travels back to Mexico with her irresponsible nephew Santiago (Gael Garcia Bernal), she illegally sneaks the kids across the border to the wedding. On the way back home, they are interrogated by border men. The incident leads an escape, to Amelia and the kids being stranded in the desert.
This story is probably the most personal for both Innaritu and Arriago. This tale is the parable of the three, to capture how hypocritical and arbitrary the border policy are in both the Mexican and American governments. Its revealed that Amelia was a working in America for 10 years, that raised children of an embassy official, and she is given no regard in either country.
The third story, which is the most literal, is where the rich nuances are. Its about a Japanese father (Koji Yokusho) trying to reach out emotionally to his deaf daughter Chieko (Rinko Kikuchi). Chiecko is shattered by the suicide of her mother, and she endures desperate heights in trying to reach out for affection and understanding. This is the story where some will dismiss "Babel" as being manipulative or unconvincing, especially the way this story is linked to the Morroco narrative, however this is where the rich and honest pathos lies.
There is an astonishing disco scene where we get the point-of-view and reaction shots Chieko inside a dance club, where sound goes in and out as we get a glimpse of what Chiecko is experiencing. Kikuchi captures every nuance and vulnerability in this role, just look at how fragile the scene is when she stands naked on the balcony in her own isolated world of Tokyo.
Essentially, "Babel" is a beautiful, and equally shattering portrait of a world in crises. "Babel" is galvanizing, and will internally stay inside the memories of cinephiles, its so unforgettable.
Rating **** out of ****