Babel is a 2006 international drama film directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and written by Guillermo Arriaga, starring an ensemble cast. The multi-narrative drama completes Iñárritu's Death Trilogy, following Amores perros and 21 Grams.^[1]

The film portrays multiple stories taking place in Morocco, Japan, Mexico and the United States. It was an international co-production among companies based in France, Mexico and the US. The film was first screened at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, and was later shown at the Toronto International Film Festival^[2] and the Zagreb Film Festival. It opened in selected cities in the United States on October 27, 2006, and went into wide release on November 10, 2006. On January 15, 2007, it won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture — Drama. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and two nominations for Best Supporting Actress and won for Best Original Score.

Plot[link]

Babel focuses on four interrelated sets of situations and characters, and many events are revealed out of sequence. The following plot summary has been simplified, and thus does not reflect the exact sequence of the events on screen.

Morocco[link]

In a remote desert location in southern Morocco, Abdullah, a goatherder, buys a high-powered .270 Winchester M70 rifle and a box of ammunition from his neighbor Hassan Ibrahim to shoot the jackals that have been preying on his goats. Abdullah gives the rifle to his two young sons, Yussef and Ahmed (played by local non-professional actors Boubker Ait El Caid and Said Tarchini), and sends them out to tend the herd. The film has already established that there is a degree of competitiveness between the two brothers. The older is critical of the younger for spying on his sister while she changes her clothes (the film shows that she is aware of his presence). Competing between themselves and doubtful of the rifle's purported three-kilometer range, they decide to test it out, aiming first at rocks, a moving car on a highway below, and then at a bus carrying Western tourists on the same highway traveling in the opposite direction to the car. Yussef's bullet hits the bus, critically wounding Susan Jones (Cate Blanchett), an American woman from San Diego ^[3][4] who is traveling with her husband Richard Jones (Brad Pitt) on vacation. The two boys realize what has happened and flee the scene, hiding the rifle in the hills that night.

Glimpses of television news programs reveal that the US government holds the shooting to be a terrorist act and is pressuring the Moroccan government to apprehend the culprits. Having traced the rifle back to Hassan, the Moroccan police descend quickly on his house and roughly question him and his wife until they reveal that the rifle was given to him by a Japanese man, and then sold to Abdullah. The two boys see the police on the road and confess to their father what they have done. (They believe at the time that the American woman has died of her wounds.) The three flee from their house, retrieving the rifle as they go. The police corner them on the rocky slope of a hill and open fire. After his brother is hit in the leg, Yussef returns fire, striking one police officer in the shoulder. The police continue shooting, eventually hitting Ahmed in the back, possibly fatally injuring him. As his father rages with grief, Yussef eventually surrenders and confesses to all the crimes, begging clemency for his family and medical assistance for his brother. The police take him into custody. The family's fate is unresolved.

The movie's first plot is interspersed with scenes of Richard and Susan. They came on vacation in Morocco to get away from things and mend their own marital woes. The death of their infant third child to SIDS has strained their marriage significantly as they struggle to communicate their frustration, guilt, and blame. When Susan is shot on the tour bus, Richard orders the bus driver to the nearest village with a doctor (the village is named Tazarine in the film). There a local veterinarian sews up the wound to stem the loss of blood. The other tourists wait for some time, but they eventually demand to leave, fearing the heat and worried that they may be the target of further attacks. Since Susan cannot travel by bus in her condition, Richard threatens the tour group to wait for the ambulance, which never arrives, and eventually the bus leaves without them while Richard is on the phone. The couple remains behind with the bus's tour guide, Anwar, still waiting for transport to a hospital (having contacted the US embassy using the village's only phone). Political issues between the US and Morocco prevent quick help, but a helicopter comes at last. After five days in the hospital, Susan recovers and is sent home.

Japan[link]

Simultaneously, the movie tells the story of Chieko Wataya (Rinko Kikuchi), a rebellious, deaf Japanese teenage girl, traumatized by the recent suicide of her mother. She is bitter towards her father, Yasujiro Wataya (Kōji Yakusho) and boys her age, and is sexually frustrated. She starts exhibiting sexually provocative behavior, partly in response to dismissive comments from a member of her volleyball team. While out with friends, Chieko finds a teenage boy attractive, and following an unsuccessful attempt at socialising, takes off her panties and exposes herself in an act combining flirtation and contempt. Chieko eventually encounters two police detectives who question her about her father. She finds one of the detectives, Kenji Mamiya (Satoshi Nikaido), attractive. She invites Mamiya back to the apartment she shares with her father. Wrongly supposing that the detectives are investigating her father's involvement in her mother's suicide, she explains to Mamiya that her father was asleep when her mother jumped off the balcony and that she witnessed this herself. It turns out the detectives are, in fact, investigating a hunting trip Yasujiro took in Morocco. Yasujiro is an avid hunter and during a trip in Morocco he gave his rifle, as a gift, to his very skilled hunting guide, Hassan, who at the beginning of the film sold the rifle to Abdullah.

Soon after learning this, Chieko reveals her real motive in inviting Mamiya to her home. She approaches him nude and attempts to seduce him. He resists her approaches but comforts her as she bursts into tears. Before he leaves, Chieko writes him a note, indicating that she does not want him to read it until he is gone. Leaving, the detective crosses paths with Yasujiro and explains the situation with the rifle. Yasujiro replies that he did indeed give it as a gift; there was no black market involvement. About to depart, Mamiya offers condolences for the wife's suicide. Yasujiro, though, is confused by the mention of a balcony and angrily replies that "My wife shot herself in the head. Chieko was the first to find the body. I've explained this to the police many times." Chieko is leaning on the balcony (still nude) when her father enters the apartment. After leaving, the detective stops at a bar to read Chieko's note. Within the film, the note's contents are never revealed.

United States/Mexico[link]

A third subplot takes place in the Americas where Richard and Susan's Mexican nanny, Amelia (Adriana Barraza) tends their twin children in their California home while they are in Morocco. When Richard and Susan are detained because of Susan's injury, Amelia is forced to take care of the children longer than planned and becomes worried that she will miss her son's wedding. Unable to secure any other help to care for them, she decides to take them with her to the wedding in a rural community near Tijuana, Mexico, rather than miss it. Her nephew Santiago (Gael García Bernal) offers to take her and the twins to the wedding. They cross the border uneventfully and the children are soon confronted by the Mexican culture and street scene. The revelry of the wedding extends well into the evening, but rather than staying the night in Mexico with the children, Amelia decides to drive back to the States with Santiago. He has been drinking heavily and the border guards become suspicious of his behavior. Amelia has passports for all four travelers, but no letter of consent from the children's parents allowing her to take them out of the United States. Intoxicated, Santiago trespasses the border. He soon abandons Amelia and the children in the desert, attempting to lead off the police (his final fate is not revealed). Stranded without food and water, Amelia and the children are forced to spend the night in the desert. Realizing that they will all die if she cannot get help, Amelia leaves the children behind to find someone, ordering them not to move. She eventually finds a U.S. Border Patrol officer. After placing Amelia under arrest, she and the officer travel back to where she had left the children, but they are not there. Amelia is taken back to a Border Patrol station, where she is eventually informed that the children have been found and that their father, Richard, while very furious and outraged, has agreed not to press charges. However, she must be deported from the US where she has been working illegally. Her protests that she had been in the US for 16 years and has looked after the children (whom she refers to as "her children") for the duration of their lives do not secure lenient treatment. Near the end of the movie, the audience sees her meeting her son on the Mexican side of the Tijuana crossing, still in the red dress she wore for the wedding, now torn and dirty from her night in the desert.

At the end of the movie, a phone conversation between Amelia and Richard is repeated from Richard's end of the phone. This is the original phone call at the beginning of Amelia's story. In this conversation it can be heard that he is allowing Amelia to go to her son's wedding because Susan's sister will be able to watch the twins. It is not until the next morning on another phone call they learn that Susan's sister cannot take care of them and thus Amelia is forced to take the children with her.

Themes[link]

In each of the interlinked stories we see parents' relationships with their children, and courtships, weddings and married relationships. Within this there is also a clear investigation of human sexuality, with the activities of Chieko in Japan, but also the voyeuristic activity that secretly links Yussef and his sister (which parallels Chieko's self-exposure). There is also a pervading sense of the underlying violence or aggression that can be detected in each of the four societies (counting USA and Mexico separately). These parallels contribute to building a content/message of human connectivity, and the inherent incalculable causality of individual actions.

As the title suggests, there is also a theme of language, specifically language barriers. The husband and wife go to Morocco in part because they have difficulty talking to each other. Chieko feels isolated by her deafness, especially in regards to the rave and music. The other Japanese teens are disdainful of her at first due to her deafness. The Americans have trouble communicating to the Moroccans when trying to get help. The American Embassy has trouble negotiating with the Moroccans as well to get a helicopter. The film is filled with silent understandings and verbal misunderstandings that defy the characters attempt at communication. Thus any analysis of this film without discussion of the titular theme is incomplete.

Cast[link]

Morocco

• Brad Pitt as Richard Jones
• Cate Blanchett as Susan Jones
• Mohamed Akhzam as Anwar
• Peter Wight as Tom
• Harriet Walter as Lilly
• Michael Maloney as James
• Driss Roukhe as Alarid
• Boubker Ait El Caid as Yussef
• Said Tarchani as Ahmed
• Mustapha Rachidi as Abdullah
• Abdelkader Bara as Hassan
• Wahiba Sahmi as Zohra
• Robert Fyfe as Tourist Number 14

Mexico/United States

• Adriana Barraza as Amelia
• Gael García Bernal as Santiago
• Elle Fanning as Debbie Jones
• Nathan Gamble as Mike Jones
• Clifton Collins Jr. as Police Officer at Mexican border.
• Michael Pena as Officer John

Japan

• Rinko Kikuchi as Chieko Wataya
• Kōji Yakusho as Yasujiro Wataya
• Satoshi Nikaido as Detective Kenji Mamiya
• Yuko Murata as Mitsu
• Shigemitsu Ogi as Dentist Chieko attempts to seduce.

Production[link]

Babel's ultimate $25 million budget came from an array of different sources and investors anchored with Paramount Vantage, which changed its name from Paramount Classics, with Babel as its premiere production and inaugural motion picture.

Actress Adriana Barraza, who plays the role of Amelia, is a two-time survivor of minor heart attacks. She nonetheless carried co-actress Elle Fanning around in the hot desert of Southern California during the summer for two days during filming of those particular desert scenes. The whole of the desert scenes were said to have taken five days to shoot.^[5]

Filming locations

• Ibaraki, Japan
• Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan
• Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
• El Carrizo, Mexico^[6]
• Sonora, Mexico
• Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico
• Ouarzazate, Morocco
• Taguenzalt, Morocco – a Berber village in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains, built into the rocky gorges of the Draa Valley.^[6]
• San Diego, California, USA
• San Ysidro, California, USA
• Drumheller, Alberta, Canada

Authorship controversy[link]

Following completion of principal photography on Babel, director Alejandro González Iñárritu and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga had a falling out. The dispute centered on the authorship of their previous film, 21 Grams. Arriaga argued that cinema is a collaborative medium, and that both he and González Iñárritu are thus the authors of the films they have worked on together. González Iñárritu claimed sole credit as the auteur of those same films, minimizing Arriaga's contribution to the pictures. As a result of this controversy, González Iñárritu banned Arriaga from attending the 2006 Cannes Film Festival screening of Babel, an act for which the director was very severely criticized.^[7]

Health hazard[link]

It was reported that during the Japanese premiere of the movie, numerous people became sick after watching the scene involving Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi dancing in a club with flashing strobe lights.^[8] Since the incident, theaters nationwide posted notices saying that Babel contains scenes with strong effects and that some viewers felt sick after seeing them.^[9]

Music[link]

The film's original score and songs were composed and produced by Gustavo Santaolalla.

The soundtrack album won the Academy Award for Best Original Score and the BAFTA Award for Best Film Music. It was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score (lost to the score of The Painted Veil).

The closing scene of the film features Ryuichi Sakamoto's "Bibo no Aozora." Sakamoto has previously won the BAFTA, Golden Globe, Grammy, and Academy Award for his scores for Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, The Sheltering Sky, and The Last Emperor.

Release[link]

Box office performance[link]

Released in seven theaters on October 27, 2006, and then released nationwide in 1,251 theaters on November 10, 2006, Babel has earned as of March 6, 2007, $34,302,937 in North America, and $101,027,166 in the rest of the world as of March 4, 2007, for a worldwide box office total of $135,330,003.^[10]

Compared to his other films, Babel has surpassed González Iñárritu's 21 Grams for North American box office, as well as that film's $60 million worldwide box office gross .^[11]

Box Office Mojo commented on America's initially poor reception for Babel, when the film first expanded beyond targeted communities ("wide release"). "Babel didn't translate in wide release, grabbing $5.6 million at 1,251 locations." Box Office Mojo observed that America's interest in political morality plays like Babel, Syriana and Crash has declined, despite the biggest box office stars.

As of March 6, 2007, with nearly $114 million box office gross worldwide, Babel^[11] had already outgrossed Crash,^[12] Syriana,^[13] The Constant Gardener^[14] and Magnolia.^[15] It has already earned more than four and a half times its estimated production budget of $25 million.

But according to Variety, this film didn't make money for Paramount Vantage.^[16]

Reception[link]

Critical response[link]

Babel has received positive reviews. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 69% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 193 reviews, with an average score of 6.7/10, making the film a "Certified Fresh" on the website's rating system.^[17] At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 69, based on 38 reviews, which indicates "Generally favorable reviews".^[18]

Home media[link]

On February 20 and May 21, 2007, Babel was released on DVD by Paramount Home Entertainment in the United States and the United Kingdom. The only special feature was the theatrical trailer and various other movie previews. In July 2007, Paramount announced they were releasing the film as a two-disc special edition DVD in September 2007. The second disc contains a 90 minute 'making of'. Babel has also been released on the high-definition formats, HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc.

On its first week of release on DVD in North America (February 19–25, 2007), Babel debuted #1 in DVD/Home Video Rentals.^[19] Total gross rentals for the week, were estimated at $8.73 million.^[20] In the first week of DVD sales, Babel sold 721,000 units, gathering revenue of $12,253,000. As of the latest figures, 1,795,000 units have been sold, translating to 1,795,000 in revenue.^[21]

Accolades[link]

See also[link]

• Hyperlink cinema – the film style of using multiple inter-connected story lines.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Babel at the Internet Movie Database
• Babel at AllRovi
• Babel at Box Office Mojo
• Babel at Rotten Tomatoes
• Babel at Metacritic