'Babel' is a dramatic tale of chaos and connection
Megan Gallagher
Issue date: 11/16/06 Section: Arts
- Page 1 of 2 next >
What do an American married couple, a deaf-mute Japanese high school student, a Mexican nanny and a pair of Moroccan children with a new and dangerous toy have in common? The answer according to Babel is absolutely nothing and absolutely everything. In his latest film, director Alejandro González Iñárritu masterfully creates four interconnecting odysseys of misfortune and miscommunication. The result is one of the best films of the year, poignantly portraying social and political barriers and the consequential disconnect between societies.
Following the death of their son, a couple (Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt) attempt to heal by vacationing in Morocco. Emotional wounds become paired with the physical, however, when a young sniper shoots the woman through the window of their tour bus. The incident is quickly and incorrectly labeled an act of terrorism while the two children responsible attempt to hide their involvement from their parents and the authorities. Meanwhile, a nanny (Adriana Barraza) struggles with the decision of bringing two American children with her to Mexico to attend her son's wedding after being unable to make other arrangements. In Tokyo, a deaf schoolgirl (Rinko Kikuchi) attempts to make a physical connection with anyone willing as her relationship with her father disintegrates. Linked together by a single rifle, the stories evolve and build, culminating into an epic tale of global and interpersonal connection, or rather, the lack thereof.
Each story portrays a different facet of communication, and in so doing, creates compelling and interesting segments while simultaneously developing the whole. An analysis of both physical and familial communication, the Tokyo segment serves as the film's centerpiece, the poetic link between all of the segments. The girl's physical inability to communicate with the majority of people around her causes her to seek compensatory sexual connection instead of addressing the real source of detachment in her life. Her story of physical disconnection acts as a beautiful compliment to the others: the political partition explored in the nanny's segment and the married couple's emotional severance.
Following the death of their son, a couple (Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt) attempt to heal by vacationing in Morocco. Emotional wounds become paired with the physical, however, when a young sniper shoots the woman through the window of their tour bus. The incident is quickly and incorrectly labeled an act of terrorism while the two children responsible attempt to hide their involvement from their parents and the authorities. Meanwhile, a nanny (Adriana Barraza) struggles with the decision of bringing two American children with her to Mexico to attend her son's wedding after being unable to make other arrangements. In Tokyo, a deaf schoolgirl (Rinko Kikuchi) attempts to make a physical connection with anyone willing as her relationship with her father disintegrates. Linked together by a single rifle, the stories evolve and build, culminating into an epic tale of global and interpersonal connection, or rather, the lack thereof.
Each story portrays a different facet of communication, and in so doing, creates compelling and interesting segments while simultaneously developing the whole. An analysis of both physical and familial communication, the Tokyo segment serves as the film's centerpiece, the poetic link between all of the segments. The girl's physical inability to communicate with the majority of people around her causes her to seek compensatory sexual connection instead of addressing the real source of detachment in her life. Her story of physical disconnection acts as a beautiful compliment to the others: the political partition explored in the nanny's segment and the married couple's emotional severance.
Be the first to comment on this story