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28/10/2008
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Babel (2006)
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A Japanese businessman on a hunting trip in Morocco gives his guide a rifle as a gesture of thanks. This rifle is sold to a goat-herding family to kill the jackals that threaten their livestock. The two young sons charged with guarding the animals accidentally shoot an American tourist who’s travelling on the bus they’re using for target practice. Back in America, the Mexican nanny of this woman’s children takes them across the border to attend her son’s wedding. Meanwhile, in Japan, the businessman’s teenage daughter Chieko is struggling through puberty, her awkwardness made worse by the frustration she feels at not being able to communicate with people due to her deafness.
Set in America, Mexico, Japan and Morocco, Babel is an ambitious and interesting exploration of the connections between people from all over the world, and the events that can unfold when the smallest action in one place reverberates across time zones and continents to affect people in unexpected and often tragic ways. It’s also about miscommunication; people cannot really understand each other, whether it’s because they speak different languages or because they simply will not listen.
Although the film has some interesting points to make about these themes, and is technically very good, with believable characters, strong acting and some creative direction (especially in putting across Chieko’s sense of isolation), it’s not a film that can be enjoyed. Babel is relentlessly bleak, putting its characters through terrible situations in order to make its point about how unpleasant we all are to each other. When the best thing that can be said about the film is that a couple of the situations that seem to be heading towards a dreadful conclusion don’t end quite as badly as we fear, it’s not much of a recommendation.
Review by Catherine Leopold
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