Babel

At its core, Babel is a film about innocence. When thinking back on this fairly brutal and violent film, it is odd to realize that not a single malicious act is committed. The great tragedies here come from misunderstandings rather than hatred. It is a masterpiece of miscommunication for if any of the characters could truly communicate across the divide of cultural and personal difference, then none of the cataclysm here would have taken place.

Alejandro González Iñárritu has made masterfully interwoven films in the past on a smaller scale. He began with the low budget Spanish language indie Amores Perros and then graduated to the more complicated Oscar nominee 21 Grams. Here he works his happenstance magic on a transcontinental level, making the lives of a Japanese schoolgirl, a Moroccan family, an American couple, and a Mexican nanny all loosely intertwine.

The events of the film do not quite click together with the potency of Iñárritu’s earlier work. The involvement of one story within the other is minimal. Here he is stressing thematic connections more than a domino effect in plot (something which is still a factor nonetheless). Language and culture become walls of separation between these people no matter how badly they try to extend themselves to one another. Iñárritu seems most infatuated with the relationships between parents and children and how they play out globally. In addition to the gap between cultures, he also seems to be fascinated with the generational divide that leaves parents unable to meaningfully connect with their children. As with the other characters in the film, he seems to suggest that the solution is simply to be silently supportive. Language between people of different mindsets only serves to complicate sentiments beyond recognition.

This is an absolutely beautiful film about well meaning people trapped in complex worldwide mechanizations. Iñárritu captures an amazingly magical quality through his ability to make moments between two individuals feel like the sentiments of fallen nations and vice versa. Near the end of the film, feuding spouses played by Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt reconcile by telling each other “It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t my fault.” These could very well be the apologies of warring nations everywhere.

Grade: A+