I would really appreciate it if there would be some feedback given by those who read this. I just want to find out if what I'm doing is good or could use a makeover.
So here's my new review:
Note: There will be spoilers in this review!
Babel
Director: Alejandro González Inarritú
Cast: Brad Pitt ("Richard Jones"), Cate Blanchett ("Susan Jones"), Adriana Barraza ("Amelia"), Rinko Kikuchi ("Cheiko Wataya"), Mustapha Rachidi ("Abdullah")
Review: Communication is an essential thing in the world of today. Wherever you go or whoever you are, you have to be able to communicate with the people around you.
Communication is also the topic of "Babel".
The movie starts with two little Morrocan boys in the middle of nowhere. Their father buys a rifle from a neighbour to shoot the jackals and save their goat. The boys are sent to feed the goat on the nearby mountains. They take the rifle with them. At the top of the mountain the two start joking around and try to shot a bus in the far distant. They think that nothing happened, but then the bus stopps. Inside the bus are Richard and Susan Jones who are on their holidays. They have had some marriage problems and so their contact with eachother is not that heart warming at the moment. When they drive through Morocco, Susan takes a nap in the bus. But suddenly she is shot in the shoulder. Since there is no hospital nearby they drive to the village of the tour guide. When they arrive in the village Richard calls his sister-in-law to contact the embassy. But the people in the bus are scared and want to go on. So Richard and Susan, who by now has lost a lot of blood, are left behind.
Change of scene:
We are in the USA where Richard's and Susan's kids are being watched by their Mexican nanny Amelia who is an illegal immigrant living in the USA for almost 16 years. She gets a phone call from Richard who tells her that she can go to her sons wedding that evening. But it turns out that Susan's sister can't make it in time and so Amelia has to take the children to Mexico to the wedding. They have a great time and stay until it's very late. Santiago, Amelia's nephew, takes the three back to San diego, but there are problems at the border since Amelia hasn't got any confirmation that she is in charge of the children. So Santiago breaks through, but they are followed by the police. They drive into the dessert, where Santiago leaves Amelia and the kids. The next day, Amelia leaves the children behind as well, because she wants to find help. But instead she gets arrested.
Change of scene agian:
We now find ourselves in Tokyo where the deaf-mute Cheiko is being sent off the volleyball court because she insulted the referee. She plays in a deaf-mute team and the girls meet at a restaurant/lounge after the match. While driving to the lounge we learn that Cheiko's mother died recently and that she and her father have had quarrels, because Cheiko thinks that her father doesn't pay attention to her. While we follow Cheiko during her day we also learn that she is still a virgin. When a group of guys talk to the girls and turn away because they realise that they are deaf-mute, she takes off her panties in the restroom to show the guys the "real hairy monster". At home, Cheiko gets visited by two police officers who want to talk to her Dad. But he isn't home. She goes out again and meets the cousin of one of her friends. He takes her to a disco, but makes out with Cheiko's friend in the end. So she goes home and calls one of the officers who left his card in case she wanted to talk to them. When he gets there she finds out that they didn't come this afternoon because they wanted to talk about the suicide of her mother but because they wanted to know if her father gave away a rifle while hunting in Morocco a few years ago.
"Babel" is an episodic film. The episode are short and are not told chronologically. Inarritú has managed to create a movie that doesn't live from the extraordinary performances of the actors but from the stories that are being told and which lead together in the end.
There is also a fourth plotline about the two boys who shot Susan. They try to run away from everything but sooner or later their father finds out and the police come after all of them.
The tone of the movie is rather melancholic and quiet which makes it even more intense. Another factor that improves the intensity is the Academy Award winnig music composed by Gustavo Santaolalla. Intensity is a keyword to describe "Babel". The world in which everything happens seem so real and almost tangible so that the viewer can feel what the characters probably feel. The director is able to make us, the viewers, understand how important it is to not only talk constantly, but also to listen in a world that is hard to understand.
8,7 out of 10 communication problems
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