Babel “A”

I’m An American!

Miscommunication, the cornerstone of modern society.
Political correctness, the other cornerstone.

“Babel” is a visually stunning and extremely heart wrenching film brought to us by the director of “Amores Perros” and “21 Grams”, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.

What Inarritu has accomplished here is arguably his best work in his short career. What can I say? This man knows how to tell a compelling story using every aspect of filmmaking at his disposal. Cinematography, editing, music and performance all come together almost naturally effortless.

On to the story. The film centers around a vacationing couple who’s marriage is on the rocks. Though while it is never fully explained why such American WASPs are traveling through Morocco on a bus, nevertheless it makes for compelling drama, don’t ya think? Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett play their roles with aplomb and while his role calls for frustration and deep sorrow, Cate’s role is very difficult. She has to be dying through 95% of her onscreen time! Oscar winner Cate Blanchett is hands down one of the finest actresses of the last 20 years. She has never turned in a bad performance and she certainly doesn’t disappoint here. The tale is interwoven with three other stories, albeit with lesser known actors. The segment about their two children in the care of their Mexican nanny is so well done but is just wrong on so many levels. Adriana Barraza as the nanny turns in perhaps the best performance in this ensemble film. Her performance is so gut wrenching and believable that even when you know that her character made many bad judgement calls she deserves the most sympathy. In the Japanese segment actress Rinko Kikuchi plays a pretty deaf girl who is struggling through major issues. When the police arrive to question her father she assumes the worst. Her performance is absolutely fearless and really quite amazing. She is brilliant. The weakest segment revolves around the goat herders in Morocco who actually cause this whole mess because they are trying out their new rifle. The kids are just plain irritating and are quite rebellious, which doesn’t quite ring true. All four of these segments are intertwined, some are obvious but some are not revealed until the end.

Now some say this film is heavy handed and preachy and even say critical of America (we play the bad guys). But I say lighten up! This is a story of global miscommunication and reflects the true cultural differences we face every day. I think this is one of the best films of the year. It will be nominated for an Oscar for best picture that’s for sure. It will have multiple noms for actors, director, editor and cinematographer. Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto is a magician and he is one of the top 5 DP’s working today. The camera is like another character in the story, at times slyly observing and at others right in the middle of things. Prieto should definitely win an Oscar for this.

While I think the the story sometimes stretches a bit to link everything together, I can’t forget how visceral an experience this was. I thought about this movie for days after and always it was “what if this character did this instead of that”. Now that’s a testament to strong filmmaking. Put yourself in their shoes, how would you react? What would you do differently? It’s always easy to say that I would do the right thing if I was in such circumstances . . . but who knows?

I do know that you owe it to yourself to see this film.
Judge for yourself.