Reviews

Babel: A Long Strange Trip. Film number 3 out of 5 of this years Best Picture nominees is "Babel." There's an odd theme occurring in films of late. The plot (or plots is more like it) of many movies have been revolving around coincidence. Babel is one such film.

The overall plot revolves around a single rifle. Said rifle is first owned by a Japanese hunter with a deaf-mute daughter. The hunter uses the rifle on a trip, then gives it to a Morrocian who was his guide. Since then, he has lost his wife, and he has emotionally lost his daughter.

The Morrocian (sp??) has sold the rifle to a local farmer in exchange for half the asking price and a free goat. The farmer lets his two boys keep the rifle while they shepherd the rest of his goats, so they can protect the herd from jackals.

The boys argue about the usefulness of the rifle and how worthwhile a shot it is. The younger of the two is the better shot. He proves it by making a tourist bus his target for practice.

Little does he know, the bus is carrying Brad Pitt and his wife, played by Cate Blanchett. They're in Morrocco to "get away" as Pitt puts it. The two have some marital and person issues they're both dealing with. These issues are never brought to the forefront. So, the audience can only assume it's a subject whose discussion could very well make their marriage crumble.

Pitt and Blanchett have two kids left at home. They are being looked after by a Mexican caretaker named Amelia. Amelia receives an urgent call stating she must come to Mexico to see her son married. On the way back, she's stopped by the border patrol. She's placed under arrest simply because she's an alien who has been working in America for 16 years.

Basically, the other theme of Babel is wrong choices, and the consequences because of them. Should Amelia had left for Mexico? She put the kids in danger, and then got caught herself. Should Pitt and Blanchett have gone to Morrocco? As they learned, the hard way, Morrocco doesn't exactly have the best medical system. Everything is miles away from everything else. If they wanted to be alone, they could have gone to an island in the Bahamas. Should the Japanese hunter have made a better effort to make closure with his daughter? to communicate with her even if she can't speak? Should the farmer had trusted his two young sons to use the gun properly? Overall, my feeling on the movie is one of overwhelming exhaustion. Watching the 2.5 hours slip past my eyes is tiring. It's not just because I feel as if I'm a world traveller now going from Morrocco to Japan to Mexico. But also because of all the subtitles I had to read.

Each of the stories involved in Babel are fascinating, if not emotionally draining. Life is either slipping away, or has already slipped away from each character in the film. Each of the stories would have made an excellent film on their own.

The tragedy of the life and choices the Japanese girl makes and her final acceptance of finding a way to accept her father for who he is, and vice versa.

The story of the Amelia and how she came to America for a better life, traveling to her home country to witness the marriage of her son. Watching him make a life for himself, while she works hard so far away from him.

Whatever the trouble in Brad and Cate's character's marriage is would be a great story to explore, especially given what tragedy befalls them on a getaway trip.

Also, it would be a good story filled with agony and grief about the poor farmer and his sons.

My feeling is this: Crash, best picture winner of 2005 did the coincidence story better.