My friend told me the story of the tower of Babel from the Bible. Once in a time where all men spoke the same language, they united in an effort to build a tower to reach the skies and heavens. However, this effort was borne of the sin of Pride and so God, having to teach mankind lesson after lesson, put a curse of sorts on the men to make them speak different languages. Not being able to understand each other, discord was sown and the plan to build the tower crumbled.
This story has had significant impact on things like Babelfish - the website which translates different languages for you, and of course, the movie Babel.
A husband and wife on holiday in foreign land, a deaf and mute Japanese girl estranged from her father and society, two children and their Mexican nanny, and two Morocan children with a gun... All these stories come together in a surprising and fluid blend of good cinematography, direction and of course, are united by the underlying theme of miscommunication. Miscommunication takes different form in each story and is dealt with differently, bearing different outcomes.
The reality of the movie is grounded in the strong acting by the cast, and I'm not talking about our Hollywood actors here. There is no need to further applaud Rinko Kikuchi's emotionally turbulent and 'physically demanding' performance of Chieko - the deaf and mute Japanese girl who faces one too many communication obstacles. I would like instead to congratulate the wonderfully real acting of the two Morocan children who managed to hold the spotlight with their solid performances. They were utterly believable in their actions and emotional display, and I was rather affected by the little Morrocan boy who so realistically portrayed the trials and tribulations of growing up, before he got caught up in this trial of Babel.
The movie makes its transitions through time and space smoothly with the help of the cinematographer who found the right pictures to cut from and cut to. Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu deserves credit for giving truth to another tagline of the movie - A single gunshot heard around the world.
For the life of me, I can't remember the ending of the movie but I remember that I had the best feeling of watching a satisfying movie, and it felt hopeful, despite all the blood, sweat, fear and anger. Babel has merit on all levels of direction, cinematography, acting, and rates a 7.5 on the scale.
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