Movie Review Of Babel. Review on Babel Movie

Director – Alejandro Gonzalez Inrritu

Screenplay – Alejandro Gonzalez Inrritu and Guillermo Arriaga

History

“That is why it was called Babel—because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth. (Genesis 11:9)”

Babel means Gate Of God in Hebrew. The Bible said that Babel was a city on the plain of Shinar between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers(Modern Day Iraq). The settlers built a tower that was to reach to the heavens so that they could make a name for themselves and not scattered over the face of the whole earth. But God came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. God said If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.” In order to confuse their language so they wouldn’t understand each other they scattered the tower with bricks falling through out the earth. Each brick symbolizing a language. The movie is an inspiration from this incident.

Plot

Thre are 4 Plots in the movie

1) 2 Moroccan Kids Yussef(Boubker Aie El Caid) and Ahmed(Said Tarchani) are playing with a rifle that their father has just purchased and accidentally shoot a Lady in a bus full of American Tourists.

2) Susan(Cate Blanchett) and Richard(Brad Pitt) are on a vacation in Morocco to give their failing marriage, one last chance to survive. Susan is the lady that gets shot by Yussef

3) Amelia(Adriana Barraza) is a kind hearted Nanny to 2 kids, Debbie(Elle Fanning) and Mike(Nathan Gamble) who has to cross the border and reach Mexico so she can attend her Son’s marriage. Because she cant leave the kids alone, she takes them with her and the kids are in for a culture shock.

4) Chieko(Rinko Kikuchi) is a depressed deaf-mute girl who lives with her widower father Yasujiro(Koji Yakusho) in Tokyo. The Cops have to interrogate Yasujiro regarding an incident. Chieko thinks its against a tragic past while the reality is something different.

These 4 stories are set at different parts of the worlds. But somehow there is a link between them and each of the protagonist face the same situation as the people did while building the tower of Babel.

Critic’s Comments

Very interesting concept by the writer/Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inrritu. Shades of movies like Traffic, Syriana and Yuva(Which is inspired from Innritu’s critically acclaimed Amores Perros) as far as the narration is concerned. The direction is near flawless with very natural acting by the lead star casts. Brad Pitt truly deserving the nomination for Golden Globe Awards for the best actor in a supporting role and Rinko Kikuchi and Adriana Barraza deserving the nomination for the best supporting actress award nomination. Along with it the film has got 5 other nominations including Best Film(Drama), Best Director and Best Screenplay. This is also a sure shot contender for many of the major Oscars to be announced in February 2007. The Score by Gustavo Santaolalla is highly inspired form the soundtrack of The Insider by Hanz Zimmer and although the film is just about 2 and a half hours long(very unlike a Normal English movie), the editing by Douglas Crise and Stephen Mirrione is crisp. Good Cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto. Another Instance that proves that you do not need big budget and a huge star cast to make a good movie. The Script will always be the king. A must watch for Students of Modern Cinema.

Psst -

1) The movie was made on a budget of $25 million. Very low for a movie shot in 4 different locations throughout the world and having Brad Pitt in the star cast. The movie grossed $37 million worldwide.

2) It Opened in only 7 screens in USA on the opening weekend grossing a little over $389,000.

3) Alejandro González Iñárritu and co writer Guillermo Arriaga had serious differences after the shooting was over for Babel regarding the authorship of director’s earlier venture, 21 Grams. This lead tp Alejandro disallowing Guillermo to attend the 2006 Cannes Film Festival where the movie was screened .

Quotes

1) "I am deaf, not blind.”

2) “She is always in a bad mood. She hasn’t been f.”

3) “I will fu** with your father.”

4) "Do you have 4 wives ? I can barely afford one."

Oops-

Didn’t see any goofs.