Clearly “Babel” is one of those films- it tracks the lives of four families in America, Mexico, Morocco, and Japan, and how their actions affect one another. Where “Babel” differs from most of its cinematic kin is that its characters do not actually meet, and barely have any literal interaction with one another. However, they do manage to impact each other profoundly, and ultimately what unites these people is a bullet.
As the movie opens, we are with a family of Moroccan goat-herders. Their father Abdullah (Mustapha Rachidi) has purchased a Winchester rifle from a neighbor, so that his sons can kill the jackals that threaten their livestock. The two brothers are immensely competitive, bickering back and forth over who can shoot better, how far the bullets can travel, and so on. Eventually they decide to test out the gun’s capabilities by attempting to hit the occasional vehicles on the road near their fields. One of those vehicles happens to be a bus.
On that bus are an American couple named Richard (Brad Pitt) and Susan (Cate Blanchett). They are in the middle of what appears to be a typical mid-life relationship crisis- he’s kind of bored and detached; she’s anxious and neurotic (and not at all happy about trekking around Morocco). Unfortunately, their stay in the country is about to be extended, as Susan happens to become the unintended victim of the boys’ drive by shooting. Due to this incident, the bus is forced to make a detour in the nearest town in order to seek whatever medical help they can find. However, there they find more questions than answers.
One of the major issues facing them is who will look after their children back in America? They have a housekeeper, Amelia (Adriana Barraza), who typically takes care of them, however she needs to take the day off to attend her son’s wedding. After much deliberation, she decides that her only alternative is to bring them along to the festivities. And with that, Amelia, her nephew Santiago (Gael Garcia Bernal), and the children are off to Mexico.
The last story told in “Babel” is that of Chieko (Rinko Kikuchi), a deaf-mute Japanese girl, and her widower father (Koji Yakusho). Of all the stories in the film, it is the least involved with the other plotlines, however it often shows the repercussions of the other stories as they play out on TV. However, their involvement in the overall plot of the movie is significant.
As for Chieko herself, her story is one of isolation- as a deaf person she lacks the connection to the world that a sense of hearing usually provides. Additionally, she is barely able to communicate with others, needing a pad and pencil to convey even simple ideas. The tragedy of this is that Chieko is a girl who desperately needs to connect with someone. She’s an adolescent girl, but has barely any social life because she literally cannot talk to boys. It leaves her feeling like a monster, when really she is just the unfortunate victim of teenage indifference. Most of all, she is profoundly troubled by the apparent suicide of her mother. All of this works on Chieko, and causes her to act out severely.
The strength of “Babel” is in its ability to portray a unique individual like Chieko, and the almost painful realism director Alejandro González Iñárritu is able to achieve with the character. Through the course of the film, the audience comes to understand (and sometimes experience) the frustration she feels at her disability. Similarly, the film has a great perspective on the Mexican experience in Southern California: the pride in raising children and keeping house (even those of your employer), the joy of the hometown wedding, and the danger and desolation of a late-night border crossing. Or, one can experience life in a small Moroccan town, and the isolation of being a foreigner in need in that place.
There are so many films that rely on dramatic action or premises to drive their plotlines, and in that context “Babel” was a welcome reprieve. Even though it dabbles in the crossover story genre, it is at its heart a character piece- and those characters speak volumes.
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