Babel

Plot synopsis:
A Moroccan merchant sells a rifle to a goatherd, who intends to use it to kill jackals that are attacking his herd. He gives the rifle to his sons, who take potshots at various elements in the environment while herding, checking to see if the rifle shoots as far as the merchant had claimed. Doubtful that a bullet could reach, the younger of the two boys aims at a tour bus nearly 3 kilometers away and takes a shot, not considering what repercussions may ensue. The bus stops, and the boys stare at each other in awe.A Mexican nanny, Amelia (Adriana Barraza), is looking after two American children. They are playing when the phone rings. The man on the other end says that his wife is doing better, and they are going to operate. Someone is flying in to look after the kids. He asks for his son, who tells him about school, then pauses and asks if he is okay. The nanny is loving, and tucks the kids into bed. The next morning, the man calls back, and says that the other person can't make it; the nanny has to stay and look after the kids. The nanny explains that her son's wedding is that night, and she really can't stay. The man is frustrated, tells her she has to stay, and hangs up on her. The nanny tries, but cannot find anyone else to look after the kids, so she packs them up, and takes them to Mexico with her, her nephew driving them.An American couple, Richard (Brad Pitt), and Susan (Cate Blanchett), are sitting at a Moroccan cafe. She is agitated and doesn't want to be there. Richard will not argue. She accuses him of running away. She is crying, and still crying when they are riding a tour bus through the desert. Suddenly she is shot through the window of the bus; the bullet hits her in her shoulder.A deaf-mute Japanese teenager, Chieko (Rinko Kikuchi), loses her temper while playing volleyball at school, and is ejected from the game. The team blames her for their loss. After the game, her father wants to take her out to lunch, but she wants to go out with her friends. He reminds her that she has a dentist appointment later that day. While playing a video game, some cute boys come up to the girls, and try to talk to them, but the girls can't hear, and do not know they are there. When the boys finally realize that the girls are deaf, everyone is embarrassed, and the boys leave them alone. Chieko is very frustrated, and when in the washroom with her friend, decides to take her panties off from under her short private school skirt. She flashes the guys when they return to their table.The boys herding the goats bring them home earlier than usual. Their father arrives, and says that the road is closed. A terrorist has killed an American tourist.The Mexican nephew, Amelia, and the kids have no trouble crossing the border into Mexico. They arrive as everyone is getting ready for the wedding. The kids meet the groom, and go off and play with some Mexican kids. They are taken aback when they witness a chicken getting slaughtered for the wedding feast.Richard and Susan are in a panic as they try to decide where to take Susan, as the nearest hospital is four hours away. A clinic is 90 minutes away, but the tour guide's village is close by, and there is a physician there. They decide to go to the village. The other passengers don't want to stay, but Richard insists. He doesn't want to be left there with no means of transport. He calls the same person who was supposed to look after the kids so the nanny could go to the wedding, and has her call the embassy to arrange help. The village physician arrives. He determines that Susan's spine is fine, but her shoulder bone is shattered. Unless she is stitched up, she will bleed to death. As he sterilizes his needle with a lighter, we learn that he is actually a veterinarian. Susan gets stitched up without anaesthesia.Chieko goes to her dental appointment, and keeps trying to lick the dentist. She then takes his hand, and places it on her crotch. She looks at him longingly, and is clearly frustrated by her inability to communicate. He tells her to leave immediately. When she arrives home, she runs into two police who are looking for her father. They explain that he is not in trouble, but they want to talk to him. Alone in her apartment, Chieko flips through the TV channels. We hear that suspects have been arrested in a Moroccan shooting. Chieko's friend from school arrives, and she tells her that one of the cops -- the young one -- is hot. They head out for the evening pantiless.The two Moroccan boys hide the gun. A brutal police investigator finds some shells on the hill where the bus had stopped. From the fresh goat droppings, he determines it must have been a local. They swarm the house of the original man that sold the gun, who is beaten, and tells the police that he sold the gun to his neighbour, Aboum. The police meet the boys, and ask if they know where Aboum lives. The youngest boy sends them in the wrong direction, and they run home to tell their father.The wedding is underway in Mexico, and the American kids are having a good time. Everyone is dancing and carrying on. Amelia rekindles her passions with an old flame.Back in the Moroccan village, the tourists on the bus are very hot and uncomfortable, and demand to leave. Susan is agitated and in pain. The tour guide's grandmother is helping care for her, and brings out her opium pipe. Susan has three puffs, and relaxes. The grandmother obviously cares for her even though they can't communicate. Susan understands and places her trust in her.The Japanese girls hook up with some friends, including some guys they know who can sign, one of whom has whiskey and ecstasy-like pills. They all have a good time, and head for a disco. Even though Chieko can't hear the music, she gets into the lights and movement. Then she sees her best friend making out with the guy she likes. Angry, she leaves, but is frustrated walking down the street not able to hear anything. When she arrives at her apartment, she asks the doorman to phone the young police officer; she needs to talk to him.The police are back at the gun salesman's farm, and are accusing him of making up the story about selling the gun. His wife shows them a photo of the tourist that gave him the gun: Chieko's father. Aboum and his two sons realize they must leave their farm. They go and get the gun and try to escape, but the police see them walking along the side of a hill. The police draw their guns and open fire. The father and sons hide behind some rocks. The older son tries to run, but is shot in the leg. The younger son grabs the rifle, and shoots one of the police in the shoulder.The wedding is winding down, and the nanny asks her nephew to drive her and the kids home. The groom is concerned that the nephew is drunk, but he insists he is fine. They are harassed at the US border, and told to pull in for secondary inspection. Instead, the nephew takes off in the car, and is chased by a couple of border police cars. He drops the nanny and kids off in the desert, and takes off to lose the police.Richard and the tour guide chat while Susan sleeps in the late afternoon. They tell each other about their children. The police arrive and say that an ambulance was to be dispatched, but was canceled by the American embassy. They were going to send a helicopter, but there are problems with that. While he calls the embassy to figure out what's going on, the bus leaves.The young police officer arrives at Chieko's apartment. She shows him the balcony and explains that it is where she saw her mother jump to her death. Her cell phone flashes, and she returns inside. The police officer admires the father's hunting trophies, and we see the same photo that the gun salesman showed the Morroccan police. The police officer explains that he is not there to investigate the mother's death, but about a rifle that was registered to Chieko's father, explaining that her father is not in trouble. He tries to leave, but Chieko asks him to wait. She steps out of the room, and returns naked. She tries to get him to touch her, and when he refuses, she breaks down. He holds her while she cries.The older son tries to run again, and is shot. The father runs to him while the younger son smashes the rifle. The son runs down to the police, and confesses to shooting the tour bus and the police officer. He says his father and brother did nothing. The father is holding the older brother's lifeless body.It is now the morning after the wedding, and the nanny and children have slept in the desert. A border patrol car drives by, but doesn't see them. The nanny gets the kids up, and they try to find where the car went. She has to carry the daughter, but can't cover enough ground. She tells the kids to wait in a shady spot for her to go and get help. After a long trudge through the desert, she flags down a border patrol car. The agent ignores her pleas to help the children, and instead cuffs her. After some serious pleading, they return to the spot where she left the children, but they are gone. A search is begun with more patrol cars and a helicopter.Susan tells Richard that she peed her pants, and has to go again. Richard borrows a pan, and she uses it to pee in. They promise that they will never leave the kids again, and kiss. We learn that another son of theirs died previously; he simply stopped breathing. This seems to have been the cause of their anxiety. We hear that the helicopter was held up because it was American, and was not allowed into Moroccan airspace. It is now on its way.Chieko apologizes to the police officer, and gives him a lengthy note.An immigration officer berates the nanny, and says the kids could have died from her neglect; she is to be deported. She loves the children, whom she has been caring for since infancy. There is no sign of her nephew. Richard has been notified in Morocco, and is angry, but will not press charges. She is picked up by her son at the border.The younger Moroccan son reminisces about playing with his brother as he is carried away.The helicopter arrives to pick up Susan. Richard tries to give the tour guide some money, but he refuses it. The helicopter takes Susan to a hospital, where press and suits film her arrival. The physician comes out and explains that there has been internal bleeding, and she may lose her arm. Richard phones home and breaks down crying while hearing about his son's day at school.Chieko's father encounters the police officer leaving his building. The police officer asks him if he owned a 270 rifle that he gave to an Moroccan hunting guide. The father confirms that the guide was a good man, and he did give him the rifle. The father is concerned for the guide. The police officer tells him that he spoke with his daughter, and is very sorry to hear about his wife jumping off the balcony. The father gets upset, and tells him that she did not jump; she shot herself in the head, and the daughter was the first person to find her. The police officer says that the police won't be bothering them again, goes to a diner, and pulls out the note to read. We see on the diner's TV that Susan has been discharged from a Casablanca hospital. Her ordeal is over.Chieko's father arrives home and sees the balcony door open, but no sign of the daughter. He finds her standing where she said her mother jumped from. The daughter takes him by the hand, and breaks down crying.

Tags: dramatic, murder, flashback

Review:
"Babel" centers on several groups of people in 4 countries that are all connected by one freak accident Alejandro González Iñárritu takes us from North Africa to North America to Asia His film exposes four unconnected story lines that are eventually divulged to be inextricably linked to one another The first involves an isolated family of goat herders who live in the High Plateaus of the Moroccan desert where two young boys are testing a rifle's range handed by their father to protect their goats from jackals...
The second concerns a Middle-class American couple on a bus tour of Morocco trying to save together their damaged marriage Meanwhile, in the US, there is grave danger for an undocumented immigranta Mexican nanny as she tries to return to United States after she wrongfully decides to take her two blonde-haired young charges to her son's wedding across the Mexican border, despite her employers' sudden change of plans, that needs that she remains with them and miss the joyful occasion And on the opposite side of the world, we follow, in Tokyo, an alienated, confused deaf and mute teenage student, recovering from her mother's suicide, who eases her feelings of depression and loneliness by trying to win the friendship or attention of every man or adolescent who crosses her path She flirts with sexual exhibitionism to attract the attention of her distant and uncommunicative father "Babel" tries to make a point and the point is that when people can't or won't communicate, unpredictable paths can lead to tragic consequences It also tries to leave a message of how a 'shooting' from a simple 'gift' can set off a chain reaction of tragic events in three continents and four countries over which the different characters have exceedingly uncomfortable human emotion Out of the entire cast, it is only Rinko Kikuchi as Chieko who steals the movie especially when she transmits to her friends her mad decision of sexual aggressiveness, saying to all: "Now they're going to meet the real hairy monster." This scene remembered me, in some way, Sharon Stone uncrossing legs in "Basic Instinct.".
He deftly uses different film stock, imagery, sound, and stories to weave a single tale out of four disparate ones, a talent he's shown in other films.The story by screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga and Iñárritu has one incident ricochet around the globe, and peeling back the layers of culture to show the frustrating inability to communicate, and the poignancy and universality of familial love.Each story is complete, but a series of snapshots that leave as many questions as answers.
The movie is oftentimes difficult to watch, with ultrarealistic cinematography and gutsy, honest performances from its entire cast, particularly Oscar-nominated actresses Adriana Barraza (Amelia) and Rinko Kikuchi (Chieko).Told nonlinearly, the movie describes the travails of a troubled married couple with a tour group in Morocco, played by Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett.
Meanwhile, the sons of a shepherd fight over who's the better shot with their new rifle and fire a blast at the couple's tour bus, critically wounding Susan (Blanchett).Richard (Pitt) calls home in San Diego to notify the nanny of their children, Amelia; Amelia is in a bit of a bind, because she expected the parents home so she could attend the wedding of her son in Mexico.
With Richard and Susan not returning soon, and with no one else available to watch the children, she takes them with her to the wedding.In Japan, a deaf-mute Japanese girl acts out in reaction to her mother's suicide, which she discovered; the virginal Chieko becomes a huge sexual flirt, even removing her panties in a crowded restaurant to flash older boys.
The plot outline is difficult to do justice in one sentence but much like Crash it explores culture clashes in life by navigating multiple interweaving story lines.One of these is the story of the married couple Richard and Susan Jones, played by Pitt and Blanchett, who travel to Morocco 'to get away'.
It is evident that director Alejandro González Iñárritu feels most at home in this setting and as a result, the story shines and its characters emote.Although there is a lot to keep track of in 'Babel' owing to its many story lines, there is such a fluent and seamless intercutting of these segments that it is impossible not to be entranced in the entirety of the film.
Don't get me wrong there is a good story in this movie, but the way the director has chosen to tell it, out of order with the grafting on of the Japanese portion of the film, it all becomes lost.
I predict that in the last will and testament of Alejandro González Iñárritu it will be stated that Babel was a joke.I believe that the director knew that if you mix some high brow actors with 4 unbelievable scenarios, touch on current affairs of the day without upsetting the apple cart, throw in some subtitles, genitalia, gratuitous camera work and make the movie over 2 hour long, you will automatically be awarded an Academy award.I pride myself on being able to find something good in any movie, but I draw the line at Babel.Wait.I can say that Babel was so horrendous that it actually made me want to write a review of it on my favourite movie website..
There are enough dramas involving real illegal immigrants suffering in the desert that putting two gringo children there...I'm sorry, there's no way that could ever be considered anywhere in the realm of something approaching realistic.There is just too much wrong with the story here to make it a good movie.
I find that one viewing of any of his two previous films is not enough to take in all of the overreaching extension of plot and the fascinating way in which the stories, although separate set pieces, are actually part of a complex design that use leit-motifs which integrate time and space and provide for satisfying the audience's intelligence while not cheating on that audience's emotional needs.
And so I here confess to seeing "Amores Perros" and "21 Grams" many times each, with "21 Grams" hitting some very powerful emotions in me and which I consider to be one of the most powerful experiences I've ever had in movies.And so with "Babel," which I have just returned from seeing at The New Orleans Film Festival, it is impossible to take in all of the director's vision on one viewing, but, yet, I say that this film is easier to access than are the two previous films.
I loved the cinematography, although it was pretentious and a bit cliché at times....especially the scene with the Moroccan kids with their arms spread at the top of the mountain....please.Anyhow, good stories, pretty good actors, I hated Brad Pitt's loser wife, man was she a real ray of sunshine, grow up, you didn't have to go to Morocco.
The plot follows four different stories that stretch the entire globe (Morocco, Japan, Mexico and a few minutes in America) and shows how one single bullet can effect the lives of people so far apart.
This gives time for the epic story to play out.It's all centered around two young boys who are fooling around with a rifle and accidentally shoot American tourist Susan (Cate Blanchett) who is on "vacation" with her husband Richard (Brad Pitt).
It centers around a deaf-mute Japanese schoolgirl named Chieko (Rinko Kikuchi) who struggles with the pain of being so different from everyone else along with her mother's apparent suicide and the police's attempt at questioning her father about a gun he gave to a Moroccan man (the gun used to shoot Susan).While most people believe that the film is about how people living so close to each other can be so different, I actually feel that it's the exact opposite.
After watching this powerful film I can say that it rightfully deserves those nominations.The way Alejandro González Iñárritu sets up his story is both fascinating and essential in what we as an audience take away from it.
That's fine, and the movie does portray that, albeit in a somewhat weak and unrealistic way, but I think somehow they could've tried harder, thought smarter, and created a more intelligent film about that theme of miscommunication than simply showing people doing idiotic things, leading to tragedy, and trying to tie the disparate plots together loosely.
It takes a lot, even with a very bad film (and like you, I've seen some humdingers in my time) to be frustrated to the point that I have to forward wind the last odd ten/twenty minutes of a film as I've realised it's pointless carrying on; it's getting annoying, nothing more needs to be said, my intelligence and sense of human empathy is being insulted and I simply can't take anymore etc.I suppose I can be fair and talk about good performances and well shot scenes, but I find myself getting genuinely concerned if the western film business is going to start putting out films like this more and more.
wasteful, pointless, almost self-mocking scenes trying to pass as art.Gael García Bernal, Rinko Kikuchi, Kôji Yakusho are good and actually most of the Japanese story line is interesting (although the end remains lacking)Nice cinematography, music and general "feel" at certain moments do not make/save a film.with all the anticipation this movie has generated, I personally find it to be a great letdown.Hope you will like it better ;-).
But those too obvious tentative to archive the truth doesn't hide the clichés of it all : in this movie, the Moroccan are good and willing to help whereas French tourists are bad, annoying and selfish (they're ready to let one of the star actor die because, well, Morocco is so damn hot and there're no air conditioner in their bus), Japanese are techno fans, and are lost people in a too modern world, where all sign of affection is gone, Mexicans are nice people, but they drink a little too much at their weeding, and most of all, Americans are, except for the star couple, paranoiac (they see terrorists everywhere) and racist (they're taking poor refugees to the Mexican border, without even listening to them).
I loved his previous films that include 'Amores Perros' and '21 Grams' (which together with 'Babel' form a trilogy) and now I feel the same about this movie.
Well, like the other movies above, we come into the story long after that happened: there is a married couple (Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett) in Morocco, trying to save their marriage; there are their children in San Diego being cared for by their Mexican housemaid; there's a goat herder with two sons in the desolate mountains of Morocco; and, there's a Japanese business man in Tokyo who's trying to save his relationship with his teenage daughter.
Instead, I would like to believe that Babel is simply a "transitional" movie, a stepping-stone on the way to something truly different and original, into an entirely new phase of Iñárritu's life as an artist..
"Babel", like "21 Grams" tells the stories of different people whose lives interlace as the movie goes forward.
This time, it's caused by two Moroccan boys accidentally shoot a bus and hit an American tourist.This last work from Iñarritú looks a lot like "21 Grams" in so many ways, specially the soundtrack, which is almost the same, and gives a sad atmosphere to the film.
But this time, the stories don't interlace as well you might expect and some loose ends remain, when at some parts of the movie it leaves you hanging, just were it starts getting more interesting.The most remarkable thing from the film is definitely the acting, which was Oscar worthy, specially from Adriana Barraza and the Moroccan boys, who in my opinion were fantastic.
Babel looks at the world's problems sharply;however the message of the film will be the versus of cultures and repetitive,but the director's different view about the film has made it outstanding.the story of the film is beautiful.photography is perfect specially in Mexico.the music is perfect too.and i highly suggested to everyone to watch this film as the one of the best films of the recent years..
If Crash was a thoughtful,unflinching look at race relations,then Babel is about how different races misunderstand each other because of their uniqueness and the thousands of languages invented to confuse one another.And not letting them co-exist because they can never understand each other through their uniqueness.It's a story about how one bullet sends a group of people of different backgrounds into chaos,misunderstanding,and despair.They all collide and their lives are shattered.Because they are unable to understand one another.An American couple is on a trip to Morocco as tourists traveling in a bus.And high on the hills,two boys are learning how to shoot.But one of them accidentally fires a round.Unbeknownst to them,the bullet hits one of the American couple sending her husband to chaos and tension and tragedy as time runs out while desperately trying to get her to a hospital.But he is unable to communicate and express his situation,he is hopeless in this situation.So finally he gets her to a nearby area for help.A Japanese girl is disconnected herself with life and her father is trying to connect with her,a maid is trying to make it to a wedding along with her hot headed Nephew but gets caught up in a tense situation.She is taking caring of the American couples children.The world spreads news that the shooting is a terrorist plot and takes serious actions towards it.Totally remarkable film-making.It's incendiary.It mixes suspense,drama,thriller and deals with a universal issue so carefully, that a subject this sensitive seems easy to accept.It's another story told in the unique storytelling technique used by Inarritu in his previous films,which sometimes makes it hard to follow.It's as if you're trying to unjumble a puzzle and get the whole picture.It's groundbreaking but flawed.The film could've been told in a straightforward manner and still retained it's powerful impact.It's not a film like Memento,where once it's told in the forward moving time-line,it looses its uniqueness and becomes old fashioned.This is a striking and spot on drama,that transcends into being a taut thriller.It's powerful and told in an unconventional way.And I haven't seen this kind of thought-provoking drama in decades, about us and our differences.In another words,it makes Crash look ordinary.Crash was a misstep.It was totally undeserving of its Best Picture Award.Because Babel is what Crash wasn't and more.It has nothing in common with Crash except the subject it deals with.So,forget about comparing the two films.Babel has a stronger focus on what it's trying to do.While Crash just plays around with it.And if the Academy Award committee gave that undeserving film the Best Picture award over Brokeback Mountain,then they ought to give this film that award as well.Otherwise it should be stripped off from its judgments and its voting system should be rebooted.Because seriously,they don't know how to be fair.Inarritu makes each and every actor riveting and real.The characters ,and the actors who play the characters are absolutely convincing and get you the very first hour that you stay along with them and hope for the best.It's a gripping and provoking drama,thriller.It's a rare experience to have a film that deals with race relations and carves a thriller out of it and blends brilliantly.Like Crash,you can't single out any part or any actor.It's an ensemble work,and it's best judged that way.However,I was really blown away by the Japanese segment, about the young teenager girl who is completely lost in a populated world.And her struggle to stay connected with her father really sends tears to your eyes.You can really feel her pain and loneliness.It's a powerful work.Rinko Kikuchi as Chieko is heartbreakingly sad.And I couldn't help but feel for the whole story.Apart from that Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett's segment was equally striking.There are flaws in every film,and there are imperfections in every groundbreaking and powerful film.And this film is no exception.I was annoyed by Inarritu's unnecessary storytelling technique as many are already familiar with it.And like many people who feel really uncomfortable following his way of film-making,I too was unsatisfied with it.It's a unique way to tell a story but it can't work every time on every film.However, that should not be the reason not to watch this film.Another flaw was that some of the situations weren't believable enough.And not every actor or story blends well together.And too many subtitles.But, this is the true Oscar contender this year in my opinion.And my anticipation for Babel payed off as it is every bit as ingenious.Inarritu's craft is unique and absorbing.And Arriaga's script is tight and strong and has lots of surprises and emotions packed in.His characters are rich and real,and his collaboration with Inarritu has once again brought you a great piece of art.A true masterpiece of its own kind.A desperate look at humankind's biggest misstep of not being able to know what we are saying to each other.Not being able to accept each other because we're different.Not being able to see beyond our suspicions and judge.The film is aided by terrific Cinematography.Giving the film a gritty look and dark atmosphere throughout.You feel the confusion and tension of the situations.The editing is crisp.Though,the film could've been slightly trimmed.While the score and sets are standout.The setting,especially in Japan, is brilliant.Japan is shown as a futuristic urban,pop-culture world.Its looks and feel is that of a dystopian future for the young teenager.and we feel it too.A rare kind of masterpiece and a heartfelt drama of misunderstandings and confusion due to multiple languages.A drama,thriller about confusion and suspicion.It is amongst the most thoughtful and meaningful dramas..It is Inarritu's definite work,and all I can hope is that he and his team sweeps a lot of accolades next year.Because if it doesn't ,then I don't know what to say about the Academy Awards.This film just exceeded my expectation.A must see for everyone who thinks he/she is different from one another..