Babylon (2006)

Directed by: Alejandro González Inarritu | 142 minutes | drama | Actors: Cate Blanchett, Brad Pitt, Gael García Bernal, Jamie McBride, Kôji Yakusho, Lynsey Beauchamp, Paul Terrell Clayton, Fernandez Mattos Dulce, Nathan Gamble, Adriana Barraza, Mohammed Bennani, Clifton Collins Jr., Elle Fanning, Kana Harada, Rinko Kikuchi, Masami Kosaka, Sumire Matsumura, Charlie Matsuo, James Melody, Barbarella Pardo, Ivor Shier, Aaron D. Spears

‘Babel’ is the ambitious final piece of Alejandro González Iñárritu’s trilogy about the role of chance in life. After the loose triptych ‘Amores Perros’ and the profound drama of ’21 Grams’, the Mexican director seems to have only become more convinced of its power as a binding element in a dramatic sense. As in the first two films, in ‘Babel’ there is an unintended event that causes suffering; as in ’21 Grams’, accident brings people closer together, but in ‘Babel’ chance transcends the personal sphere: an Arab boy jokingly shoots a bus with tourists, leading to tensions between Morocco and America; because the American woman injured in the accident can’t go home, her nanny threatens to miss her son’s wedding in Mexico, culminating in an immigration drama; the gun that started it all turns out to come from the father of a deaf-mute Japanese girl, whose mother once committed suicide.

A remarkable chain of events. The Japanese connection is the strangest one: Iñárritu is too forced to make connections here and is only too happy to add the touching, but isolated fate of a disabled teenage girl. That’s a shame, because he’s made an emotionally powerful film, approaching the intensity of ’21 Grams’ at times. Iñárritu shows us that people, regardless of where they come from, are trapped in circumstances, in power relations and cultural codes. In other words, man is not free and equal. Iñárritu brings together the world’s cultures and problems in an unconventional way, and thereby puts the finger on the sore spot: the rich countries (including Japan) have become morally corrupted by their prosperity, and the poor are left out because of structural inequality – and the lack of democracy. in their own countries – don’t change it, even though they may be happy in their simplicity. Just like in ‘Amores Perros’, Iñárritu once again contrasts the zest for life of Mexicans with the coldness of Westerners and adds the simple life rituals of nomads in the desert; with ‘us’, in his view, only children are pure beings.

Coincidence is predominant in ‘Babel’ as an expression of Iñárritu’s worldview and is used to the maximum as a dramatic tool, which does not benefit the credibility. However, the unsurpassed visual language and the fantastic use of camera in ‘Babel’ – after the impact of the bullet we even briefly look through the eyes of the injured Susan – confirm Iñárritu’s status as an original. ‘Babel’ is an author’s film and not an actor’s film, there is too much switching between the locations and the main characters; yet the acting performances are also worth mentioning. Cate Blanchett stands out as a mortally wounded tourist, but the youngsters have the toughest roles; especially Boubker Ait El Caid (shooter Yussef), Rinko Kikuchi (the deaf-mute Chieko), Elle Fanning and Nathan Gamble (the children of the American couple); Gael Garcia Bernal (Octavio from ‘Amores Perros) shows that he has matured as an actor. Due to flaws, ‘Babel’ did not become the masterpiece that the film could have been, but once again impresses on an emotional level.