"Babel"

Brad Pitt
Cate Blanchett
Gael Garíca Bernal
Rinko Kikuchi






R           148min           2006


Pain is universal… but so is hope. From acclaimed Director Alejandro González Inárritu (Amores Perros, 21 Grams) comes the third film in his trilogy, “Babel”, a critically celebrated and emotionally gripping film about the barriers that separate humankind.

A tragic accident in Morocco sets off a chain of events that willl link four groups of people who, divided by cultural differences and vast distances, will discover a shared destiny that ultimately connects them. Brad Pitt (Mr. And Mrs. Smith, Oceans 12), Academy Award Winner Cate Blanchett and Gael Garíca Bernal lead an outstanding international ensemble cast in this breakthrough film. – from the back cover

Let’s start by saying babel is defined as 1 a city in Shinar where the building of a tower is held in Genesis to have been halted by the confusion of tongues, 2a a confusion of sounds or voices, and 2b a scene of noise or confusion. Understanding the definition lends itself to the name of the film. Only knowing that it was critically acclaimed when I watched it I was thrown for a loop and truly lost in confusion.

“Babel” for the most of the film its told in a foreign language. Only about ten percent of this film is in English. This lends to the films name and the power of the film. For me it show how elitist me as an American has become.

Understanding only one language English I still understood the film. It’s told from four different perspectives that is nonlinear in its telling but intersect into one with a devastating event. It could almost be said that this is a examples of “Butterfly Effect” and Six Degrees of Separation Theories. I never truly grasped what had happened until I watched it with the close caption.

Once I watched “Babel” with the caption on I realize that no matter where you are in the world we are connected. Everything you touch affects something and someone in the most mundane to the most extreme of situations. It’s a powerful connection that can be used to change the world in numerous ways.

It features movie previews for “Black Snake Moan”, “Things We Left In the Fire”, “Perfume”, “Flags of our Fathers” and “An Inconvenient Truth”.

I give it 5/5 Gs.