Babel is an interesting film...intricate and disturbing of course! even before revealing the name of the filmmaker and his earlier films...one should look at the story. one incident relates to different geographical locations and how they affect each others lives...japan, mexico and morocco. the film starts with the story of a small family living in rural morocco [ one thinks that this could even be afghanistan....considering the parched landscape with mountains all over ] there comes a man who sells a rifle to this family [ they breed sheep...so to save them from the fox ]the gun reaches the hands of the children...on a sunny day while looking after the sheep the kids decide to test their skills with the rifle and aim at a distant bus coming towards them. the bus stops and the kids run away. the story shifts to mexico...two american children under a mexican caretaker living somewhere in south america go to mexico to attend the caretakers sons marraige.
the parents don't allow the caretaker to leave but she has to attend the marraige with the children as she can't leave them alone there...also they would come back the same night and the parents are on a holiday. the story again shifts to japan a deaf and a mute girl.
she is desperate to find love. her father , a well to do businessman has lost his wife a few years back. the story cuts back to morocco where we see brad pitt and cate blanchett on a holiday to morocco. they are not happy though. they sit in the bus after a short break and we suddenly see a bullet hitting the glass pane and piercing into her neck [ cate blanchett ]...
there are in the middle of no where...no hospital, no medicine...the guide takes the bus to a small village nearby. there is absolutely nothing. meanwhile the news has already reached the world. american media says it's the work of some terrorists...the story cuts back to the marraige in mexico...the children are immersed in the ceremony...there is something fishy in the air. there is something happening. the japanese girl in tokyo feels terribly lonely. she wants to find love but her desperation lands her up only in rejection. meanwhile the police in morocco discover the ' criminals ' behind the shoot. they get to the family and discover that the rifle actually belongs to a japanese. the same japanese businessman who is leading a lonely life in a swanky apartment in the centre of tokyo. the maid while returning back from mexico after the wedding ceremony gets stuck in the desert because of the stupid driver who is drunk...
the police trace down the family and asks the kids to surrender but they refuse and shoot at the police...one of the brother dies in the encounter with the police...on the other side brad pitt is trying to save his wife... the bus leaves them behind and a helicopter lands up to save his wife...
the news reaches japan and the police informs the japanese businessman about the incident. but he is not leagally responsible as he gifted the rifle [ bought with a licence ] to the family when he visited morocco.
this is a must watch film. really!
how can one single incident be related to six other geographical locations!!! wow!
i will give it 9/10.
watch it before it fades away from the cinema. it's not playing at any single theatre. only at happy inox [ watch this rather disturbing film amongst glitz and glamour of high capitalism ]
btw...the name of the filmmaker is Alejandro González Iñárritu, [ remember Amoros Perros. ...]
