Babel

I have rented Babel about four times this year and only recently took the time to watch it. Putting off films I think will be grim and pessimistic comes natural to me, but when I finally sat down, I was instantly taken in with Babel, and even moved at times.

The film by Alejandro González Iñárritu (21 Grams) is about families whose ordeals are somehow connected by an accident that occurs in the mountains of Morocco. Two boys in a Moroccan village take their father’s new rifle into the hills. An American tourist is hit by a stray bullet. A nanny in California takes her employer’s children across the US-Mexico border so she can attend her son’s wedding. A deaf teenager in Japan struggles with her sexual expression and the death of her mom.

Some links are clearer than others, but to be sure, each is a ripple in the Babel tidal wave. The connections become clearer as the story unravels, and we discover that the characters are either victims of fate and circumstance or just shortsighted in their decision-making. Misguided acts such as testing the range of a rifle on a hilltop, or crossing the border with someone else’s kids in the backseat have predictably grim consequences. 

Films about fate and circumstance intrigue me. If you’re looking for something on the subject that’s more upbeat, I’d recommend Happenstance, with Audrey Tautou.