Babel

Starring Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Gael Garcia Bernal, Rinko Kikuchi, Adriana Barraza

Rated R

            “Babel” is a masterwork; every bit as brilliant as director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s “21 Grams” but even more epic in scope, with four separate, brilliantly filmed concurrent stories. Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett have been hailed for their performances, but even more amazing is the work done by international cast members Adriana Barraza, Rinko Kikuchi, and Gael Garcia Bernal.

            Two Moroccan boys, trying out a new shotgun purchased by their father to protect their sheep, accidentally fire a bullet into a passing American tour bus, where American couple Richard (Pitt) and Susan (Blanchett) are taking a healing trip to Morocco after the loss of their young child. The bullet hits Susan in the neck, and Richard immediately has the bus pull over and takes Susan to the nearest village. The gunshot is seen as an act of terrorism, and as Richard is unable to bring Susan to a proper medical outlet, his desperation increases with the Moroccan villagers attempting to help him.

Richard contacts his Hispanic housekeeper, Amelia (Barraza), who is taking care of their children back in San Diego. Explaining the situation, Richard asks Amelia to look after the kids until he and Susan can return to California. Amelia, however, must attend her son’s wedding in Mexico, but Richard begs her to stay with the children. Amelia makes an executive decision to sneak Richard’s children across the border illegally in order to attend her son’s wedding. Along for the ride is Amelia’s other son, the reckless Santiago (Garcia Bernal), who may lead the kids into unnecessary danger.

A fourth and almost unrelated story (until the end, when the connections are fully tied) takes place in Tokyo, where deaf teenager Chieko (Kikuchi) is exploring her intimate boundaries with other teenagers. The crowded, flashing life of Tokyo has never looked so strange from a deaf person’s point of view, which provides “Babel” with some of it’s most original, vibrant and haunting imagery.

The key to connecting all of these stories is the prevalent theme of culture misconceptions and language barriers between such seemingly different places. The strong suit of “Babel” is misplacing characters in lands vastly different from their homes. Whether we’re watching Richard and Susan desperately trapped in a foreign land without assistance; their children interacting with the customs and youth of Mexico; or simply a young Japanese girl wandering through her lonely world confused, alone and detached from the nightlife of Tokyo, “Babel” has the power to shake an audience out of it’s comfort zone – and maybe that’s a good thing.

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