BABEL (2006)

 

 

 

 

 

In the remote sands of the Moroccan desert, a rifle shot rings out--detonating a chain of events that will link an American tourist couple’s frantic struggle to survive, two Moroccan boys involved in an accidental crime, a nanny illegally crossing into Mexico with two American children and a Japanese teen rebel whose father is sought by the police in Tokyo. Separated by clashing cultures and sprawling distances, each of these four disparate groups of people are nevertheless hurtling towards a shared destiny of isolation and grief. In the course of just a few days, they will each face the dizzying sensation of becoming profoundly lost--lost in the desert, lost to the world, lost to themselves--as they are pushed to the farthest edges of confusion and fear as well as to the very depths of connection and love.

Production Status:	Released
Logline:	A tragedy strikes a married couple on vacation, interweaving four stories set in Morocco, Tunisia, Mexico, and Japan.
Genres:	Drama
Running Time:	2 hrs. 22 min.
Release Date:	October 27th, 2006 (limited)
MPAA Rating:	R for violence, some graphic nudity, sexual content, language and some drug use.
Distributors:	Paramount Vantage
Production Co.:	Zeta Films, Central Films, Anonymous Content
Studios:	Paramount Pictures
Financiers:	Completion Bond Provider: Film Finances, Inc.
U.S. Box Office:	$1,470,614
Filming Locations:	Morocco
Produced in:	United States

 

 

 

WHAT 3 YEARS OF ANGELINA WILL DO TO A MAN...AND OTHER JOYS OF 'BABEL'

OLD BRAD SHINES IN INTERLOCKING DRAMATIC TALES

 

Brad Pitt leaves his 1991 "Thelma & Louise" heartthrob image

covered in gray hair and wrinkles in "Babel."

 

 

Rating:

 

October 27, 2006 -- IN the towering dramatic achievement that is "Babel," fate and bad decisions bring disparate people together - and cultural differences separate them - with heartbreaking consequences.

 

That sounds a lot like the Oscar-winning "Crash" - which owes a lot to Mexican filmmakers Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's and Guillermo Arriaga's pre-"Babel" collaborations on "Amores Perros" and "21 Grams."

 

But the far more ambitious and visually stunning "Babel" - itself a heavyweight contender for Best Picture honors - wrings tears on no fewer than three continents with uniformly superb performances by a huge cast headed by Brad Pitt.

 

There are four intersecting but not exactly synchronized story lines - all involving parents and children - playing out simultaneously in this demanding movie.

 

Let's start at a mountain village in Morocco, where a goat herder (Mustapha Rachidi) turns a newly acquired high-powered rifle over to his two young sons (Said Tarchani and Boubker Ait El Caid) to shoot jackals.

 

Of course it's a huge mistake, especially when they test the rifle by taking a pot shot at a passing tourist bus.

 

Susan (Cate Blanchett), a reluctant traveler, is hit in the shoulder and begins profusely bleeding.

Her overbearing American husband, Richard (Pitt, his hair dyed and made-up to simulate middle-age), orders the bus to the nearest village, where locals care for her as help very slowly arrives.

As Moroccan and U.S. authorities argue whether it was a terrorist attack, the local cops brutally hunt down the culprits.

 

Meanwhile, Susan and Richard's two young children (Elle Fanning and Nathan Gamble) have been left with their nanny Amelia (the terrific Adriana Barraza) back in San Diego.

 

As the crisis plays out halfway around the world, Amelia unwisely totes these sheltered kids - without parental permission - to her native Mexico, so she can attend the all-night wedding of her only son.

 

Even worse, their chauffeur is illegal immigrant Amelia's boozing, ne'er-do-well nephew, Santiago (Gael Garcia Bernal).

 

A confrontation with a U.S. border guard (Clifton Collins Jr.) leads to a high-speed chase and a terrifying night.

 

The fourth strand is set in Toyko, where deaf teenager Chieko (the ethereally beautiful Rinko Kikuchi, a lock for Best Supporting Actress) is grieving over the recent suicide of her mother.

She rebels against her often-absent businessman father (Koji Yakusho) by acting out sexually with boys and with a police detective.

 

It's not immediately clear how this story is linked with the others, and those who were bothered by the chain of coincidences in "Crash" may have some difficulty embracing this movie.

 

It's their loss. For me, it was well worth the suspension of disbelief to see how director Inarritu, screenwriter Arriaga - and their brilliant cinematographer, Rodrigo Prieto (who also worked on their first two films) - deftly jump between these stories for 2 1/2 hours, building to a powerful climax.

 

This is a serious movie overflowing with memorable acting, unforgettable images, searing tragedy, unexpected humor and an eloquent plea for international understanding. And while it's by no stretch of imagination light entertainment, it's fundamentally a more optimistic work than either "Amores Perros" or "21 Grams."

 

"Babel," which takes its title from the Bible story of God inventing languages to prevent men from building a tower to heaven, is, in short, one of the year's best movies.

 

lou.lumenick@nypost.com

 

BABEL
Gripping post-9/11 panorama.
In English, Spanish, Arabic, Japanese and French with English subtitles. Running time: 142 minutes. Rated R (violence, full-frontal nudity, profanity, drugs and a chicken slaughter). At the Empire, the Lincoln Square and the Union Square.

 

 

http://www.nypost.com/seven/10272006/entertainment/movies/

what_3_years_of_angelina_will_do_to_a_man___and_other_joys_of_babel_movies_lou_lumenick.htm

 

 

Director Alejandro Gonzalez Innarritu and Gael Garcia Bernal in Paramount Classics' Babel - 2006

Babel

Ray Bennett

May 24, 2006

 

 

Tense, relentless and difficult to watch at times, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "Babel" is an emotionally shattering drama in which a simple act of kindness leads to events that pierce our veneer of civilization and bring on the white noise of terror.

Inarritu and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga involve six families, most of them not known to one another, in four countries on three continents in their story of random fate and the perils of being unable to communicate.

Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and Gael Garcia Bernal give committed ensemble performances alongside seasoned character performers and non-actors as the story ranges from Morocco to San Diego to Tokyo.

The film, which also features exceptional work by director of photography Rodrigo Prieto, production designer Brigitte Broch, editors Stephen Mirrione and Douglas Crise, and composer Gustavo Santaolalla, is headed for major prizes and large, appreciative audiences. As with his previous films, Inarritu tells his story using scenes out of order so that the pieces fall together in a jagged form that heightens the tension. It starts in the Moroccan desert, where a man buys a Winchester rifle from a neighbor to help keep the jackals away from his herd of goats. A Japanese hunter had gifted the neighbor with the rifle in gratitude for his work as a guide.

The rifle is entrusted to the goat herder's two young sons who end up firing it from a mountainside at a coach filled with Western tourists just to see how far the bullet would go.

The bullet, however, strikes an American named Susan (Blanchett) who is traveling with her husband Richard (Pitt) in attempt to patch up their marriage following the death of a child.

Four hours from the nearest hospital, the coach takes a detour to a remote village where a local man offers shelter while the other tourists argue over whether to stay or leave.

Desperate, Richard phones the U.S. embassy pleading for help and also calls home in San Diego where their long-time maid Amelia (Adriana Barraza) is caring for their other two children. With Susan bleeding and near death in the desert, he begs Amelia to remain with the kids as he tries to get help.

Amelia's son, however, is getting married across the border and, having exhausted attempts to find another sitter, she decides to take the kids with her to the wedding in a car driven by her friendly but hot-headed nephew Santiago (Bernal).

As Richard fights to keep Susan alive with the help of a wise and calm old Moroccan woman and a veterinarian, the shooting escalates into an international incident with security forces believing terrorists to be responsible and hunting for the perpetrators.

Meanwhile, in Tokyo, a young deaf-mute woman named Chieko (Rinko Kikuchi) is grappling with the loss of her mother by suicide, fighting with her equally bereft father (Koji Yakusho), and trying to deal with the frustrations of adolescence.

The filmmakers succeed brilliantly in weaving these stories together, taking time to explore depth of character and relationships. The suspense builds throughout as everyone involved becomes lost in a place they don't understand with people they don't know if they can trust.

Several astonishing Tokyo sequences replicate what it might be like to be deaf-mute, and equal imagination is applied to scenes at night in the wasteland of the Mexico/California border and the barren mountains of Morocco.

This is not a fear-mongering movie, but it is unpredictable and shocking, with compassion hanging on for dear life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.paramountvantage.com/babel 

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/film/reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=259