Reminiscent of "Crash" in its narrative style, "Babel" is a powerful film about the nightmare of not being understood. The film's title implies a sense of confusion created by incoherent background noise. It is also an allusion to the biblical story about the Tower of Babel in which God condemns the tower's construction by causing its builders to speak in different, mutually incomprehensible languages.
"Babel" merges the experiences of an American couple, a Moroccan family, a Mexican immigrant and a Japanese teenager to create a cross-cultural narrative about family relationships and the frightening results of miscommunication.
Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt headline the cast of "Babel," playing Susan and Richard. They are an American couple experiencing tension in their relationship and who decide to travel to Morocco "to be alone." As their tour bus is driving through the Moroccan desert, Susan is suddenly shot in the her shoulder by a bullet that broke through the window she was leaning against. Terrified and helplessly in pain, Susan struggles to reconnect with her husband and to overcome her paranoia and distrust for the strangers around her who belong to a culture that is wholly unfamiliar to her.
Blanchett delivers an emotionally charged performance that is a stark contrast to her role as the vivacious Katherine Hepburn in "The Aviator," for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Pitt, last seen in the less-than-entertaining "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," is fantastic as the frustrated husband who tries desperately to secure medical help for his wife in spite of linguistic barriers and the remoteness of the desert.
The shooting is broadcasted all over the news, giving rise to political speculations about terrorism, creating more fear and confusion in the storyline's background. In reality, the shooting is an accident, caused by two teenage Moroccan brothers who were testing the rifle that their father had obtained from a neighbor for shooting jackals. Neither brother confesses to the accident until the Moroccan police traces the gun back to their father. Their story becomes one about sibling rivalry, guilt and fear over the possibility of having killed an American tourist.
While Susan and Richard are in Morocco, their children are at home under the supervision of their Mexican nanny, Amelia (wonderfully played by Adriana Barraza). Amelia speaks to the children in Spanish, again reminding us of the film title's meaning. Her plans to attend her son's wedding in Tijuana, Mexico, are foiled when Richard calls from Morocco after the accident and asks her to watch the children until their aunt arrives. Reluctant to miss her son's wedding, Amelia and her nephew Santiago (Gael García Bernal) illegally take the children with them to Mexico. As expected, she and Santiago are stopped by the police guarding the border. To avoid arrest, Santiago speeds away from the police and abandons Amelia and the children in the desert, leaving them stranded until they are found by a patrol vehicle. Amelia's story speaks to the frightening experience of Mexican immigrants crossing the heavily guarded border and their sense of separation from their families.
The incident in Morocco is also linked to Yasujiro (Kôji Yakusho, seen as Nobu in "Memoirs of a Geisha"), a Japanese widower who owned the gun that shot Susan. His daughter, Chieko (Rinko Kikuchi), becomes the plot's focus. Chieko is a deaf-mute who is trapped in a silent world by her physical disabilities. She is shut out of Tokyo's teenage culture, characterized by the hubbub of loud conversations and blasting of popular Japanese music in crowded dance clubs. The director, Alejandro González Iñárritu ("21 Grams," "Amores perros"), constructs her sense of alienation and loneliness by muting the sounds around her when she is with her friends. Chieko's inability to communicate verbally isolates her from her girlfriends and prevents her from dating the opposite sex. Her desire for attention and intimacy drives her to seek sexual attention. She uses provocative gestures to gain attention from teenage boys and tries to seduce her dentist and the detective who asks to speak to her father about the shooting. Kikuchi's debut on the American movie screen is an outstanding work by the young actress and the defining performance of the film.
The characters in Babel pointedly convey the message that "If you want to be understood, listen." Babel's memorable characters and complex plot certainly make it a strong contender in the approaching Oscar season.