Movie Review: Babel

Babel (2006) 

Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

Written by Guillermo Arriaga

Starring Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Gael Garcia Bernal, Rinko Kikuchi 

Release Date October 27th, 2006 

Published November 24th, 2006 

Writer Guillermo Arriaga and director Alejandro Gonzalez-Inarritu are the masters of oppressive atmospherics. Their films have an enveloping sadness that makes early German expressionism seem downright giddy in comparison. Amores Perros and 28 Grams are both exceptionally well made and involving films but neither is an experience that most film goers can take more than once.

The same could be said of their latest, and allegedly final, teaming the towering drama Babel. This multi-arc drama about the fabric of life woven across borders is an overwhelmingly sad experience. Ostensibly the travels of one weapon and the lives it destroys, Babel follows the path of violence, racism and loneliness around the globe in one fascinating and wearying film.

This review contains spoiler information. I recommend you see Babel before reading this review.

In Morocco an American couple, Richard (Brad Pitt) and Susan (Cate Blanchett) are on a vacation with a lot of subtext. Susan doesn't want to be here, Richard can't imagine being anywhere else because anywhere else would remind him of the pain back home. The two lost a child and blame each other for it. The pettiness that followed the child's death has driven what would seem to be an insurmountable wedge between them.

In one fell swoop however all of Richard and Susan's problems become meaningless. Traveling on a bus in the midst of the desert; a bullet pierces the window next to Susan striking her in the shoulder. Bleeding heavily and with the only hospital four hours away on this creaky old bus, Richard and the traveling interpreter Anwar (Mohammed Akhzam) make the rash decision to head to a tiny Moroccan village, Anwar's home, where a veterinarian is the only available doctor. They will wait there as international intrigue and red tape hold up a rescue by the American embassy.

Back in Richard and Susan's home, their two remaining children are being cared for by their nanny, Amelia (Adriana Barraza). Her son is getting married and she has plans to be there but with Susan being shot, mom and dad will not make it home any time soon. In a rash decision, after exhausting all other possibilities, Amelia decides to take the children with her to Mexico for the wedding. A fateful decision given her hotheaded nephew Santiago (Gael Garcia Bernal) and his penchant for trouble.

Just watching the way Santiago carries himself on the drive to the wedding, and at the wedding, you can sense trouble coming and as they wait to cross the border back to America, Santiago, slightly inebriated and carrying a weapon he doesn't want found, you can see the trouble coming and it leads to a drawn out series of heart rending scenes that find Amelia and two young children wandering in the desert before sunrise in search of the border.

The connections between those stories are clear as are the consequences. The third of the stories told in Babel has only a tenuous connection to the rest. Rinko Kikuchi plays Chieko a deaf mute teenager in Japan whose mother has died, an apparent suicide, and her father Yasujiro (Koji Yakusho) is absent. Chieko is obsessed with sex and is  adventurous in the ways only an inexperienced teenager can be.

Chieko's father provides the link to the other stories, his own trip to Morocco and to leave as a gift for his guide, a Winchester rifle, is the catalyst of the whole story. The rifle falls into the hands of a pair of very young goat herders Yussef (Boubker Ait El Caid) and his brother Ahmed (Said Tarchani) and as they childishly test the weapons power and distance; they touch off an international wave that soon consumes them and everyone else.

The multi-layered stories told in Babel are filled with sadness, heartbreak, redemption and humanity. Gonzalez-Inirritu and Arriaga craft a story that while it is extraordinarily well told, it is also oppressive in its sadness and human tragedy. Yes, the sadness and tragedy reveal truths about humanity and love but the journey is arduous and not one you will likely want to take again.

Of the performances, the bravest is young Rinko Kikuchi's who reveals so much of herself, emotionally and physically, that her presence becomes unnerving with every appearance. Though her connection to the plot is tenuous her overall disconnection in her life, through her impairment and her emotional state, she becomes a metaphorical conduit for the the disconnectedness of the other characters in the film.

While Cate Blanchett's role is limited by her character's injury, Brad Pitt as her husband has a number of meaty moments and nails each one of them. Pitt has always been a star but in Babel Pitt shows a maturity that is more than just his newly graying temples. Stripped of his charm, his model perfect features masked by an ugly salt and pepper beard, Pitt is a real human being in Babel rather than the movie god of the past. It's a transformative performance and a potential academy award nominee.

Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inirritu is so observant of his characters and so delicate in telling their stories that his films can kind of sneak up on you emotionally and devastate you more with unexpectedness than most other films. His gentle observation is given an edge by a propellant story by Guillermo Arriaga that moves inexorably towards tragedy. Every step of the way feels inevitable even as we silently call out to these characters to make different choices, the choices that are made are fated and that much more powerful in demonstrating the characters powerlessness.

Babel is a movie of such profound, claustrophobic, sadness that  to assign popcorn entertainment aspects to it seems a futile, almost disrespectful thing. The most appealing thing about the film, the reason to see the film, is for the performances. This exceptionally talented cast will be a big part of the Oscar telecast in February.

I have already praised Rinko Kikiuchi's brave and revealing performance. Her main competition in the Best Supporting Actress race is likely to be co-star Adriana Barraza whose Amelia makes wrong decisions from the first moment but still manages to win your sympathy. No matter the circumstance, son's wedding or no, there is no way to justify her taking those two very young children to Mexico, and yet Barraza makes us understand this decision and easily holds our sympathy as things spin tragically out of control.

If I have one issue with Babel it is the Jobian sadness heaped on Pitt and Blanchett's characters. They are a married couple who are on vacation recovering from the loss of a child when Blanchett is shot. As she is in surgery in Morocco, her remaining children are facing grave danger in the desert border between Mexico and America. Are we to believe that such tragedy could be heaped on one family in such a short time? It's a minor quibble and the drama and storytelling being as strong as they are make it easy to forgive.

Babel is oppressively sad and not a movie you will likely experience more than once. As an experience however, it is more than worth having once. Well acted, written and directed, Babel is an almost certain Oscar contender so if you are a fan of Hollywood's biggest night you will want to have seen the movie that will likely over-populate the acting categories. Babel is an extraordinary film for fans of great drama and great filmmaking. If an experience of near un-ending tragedy and heart wrenching sadness is not the kind of moviegoing experience you want, then I would not recommend Babel.