Babel (film): Difference between revisions
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Richard and Susan were vacationing in Morocco to mend their own marital woes. It appears the sudden death of their infant son, suggested to be [[Sudden infant death syndrome|SIDS]], has caused a strain on their marriage as they cannot communicate their frustration, guilt, and blame to each other. It is also implied that Richard left the family for a while after the infant's death. Richard and Susan are on the bus shot at by Yussef and Ahmed. When Susan is hit the bus goes to the nearest village with a doctor. The bus waits some time, but the other passengers demand that it leave, because the heat is hard to bear, and because they fear more attacks. Since Susan cannot travel by bus in her condition, the couple stays behind, together with the bus's tour guide Anwar, to wait for transport to a hospital. Political issues between the US and Morocco prevent quick help, but at last a helicopter arrives. The simplicity of the ordeal, Richard caring for and protecting Susan with the fear of losing her, brings them together. |
Richard and Susan were vacationing in Morocco to mend their own marital woes. It appears the sudden death of their infant son, suggested to be [[Sudden infant death syndrome|SIDS]], has caused a strain on their marriage as they cannot communicate their frustration, guilt, and blame to each other. It is also implied that Richard left the family for a while after the infant's death. Richard and Susan are on the bus shot at by Yussef and Ahmed. When Susan is hit the bus goes to the nearest village with a doctor. The bus waits some time, but the other passengers demand that it leave, because the heat is hard to bear, and because they fear more attacks. Since Susan cannot travel by bus in her condition, the couple stays behind, together with the bus's tour guide Anwar, to wait for transport to a hospital. Political issues between the US and Morocco prevent quick help, but at last a helicopter arrives. The simplicity of the ordeal, Richard caring for and protecting Susan with the fear of losing her, brings them together. |
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In parallel, we |
In parallel, we Chieko ([[Rinko Kikuchi]]), a rebellious deaf Japanese teenage girl who refuses to speak. Chieko is traumatized by the recent suicide of her mother and a sense that she is not seen by others which is especially exemplified by interactions with her father, Yasujiro ([[Kôji Yakusho]]), and boys her age. In response, she has started exhibiting sexually provocative behavior, such as wearing a short skirt and no underwear. She attempts unsuccessfully to initiate a sexual encounter with her dentist. Chieko is eventually accosted by two police detectives questioning her about her father, one of whom she finds attractive, Kenji Mamiya ([[Satoshi Nikaido]]). She initially resists any questioning, but later invites Mamiya to talk with her in their apartment. Thinking the detectives were investigating her father's involvement in her mother's suicide, she tells Mamiya that her father was asleep when her mother jumped off the balcony and that she witnessed this. It turns out the detectives were, in fact, investigating a hunting trip Yasujiro took in Morocco. Yasujiro is an avid hunter and during a hunting trip in Morocco he gave his rifle, as a gift, to his tour guide, Hassan, who at the beginning of the film sold the rifle to Abdullah and his boys. We soon learn the real reason Chieko invites Mamiya to her home, as she approaches him nude and tries to sexually seduce him. He resists but comforts the sexually confused Chieko. On his way out, Chieko writes Mamiya a note and hints that she doesn't want him to read it until he leaves. On his way out, the detective crosses paths with Yasujiro; they discuss the rifle and Mamiya mentions his wife's suicide. Yasujiro is confused by the mention of a "balcony" and responds "My wife shot herself in the head. I told the police that many times" leaving questions open of how Chieko's mother actually died and why Yasujiro was under investigation over this in the first place. It is never revealed what is in the note Chieko gave to the detective. |
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We also see Richard and Susan's [[Mexico|Mexican]] nanny, Amelia ([[Adriana Barraza]]), taking care of their two young children while the couple is stranded in Morocco. Due to the parents' long vacation, she is forced to take care of the children longer than anticipated. Unable to secure help to care for them, she takes them to her son's wedding in Mexico. Rather than stay the night in Mexico with the children, she decides to make the journey back with her nephew Santiago ([[Gael García Bernal]]) who throws caution to the wind and drives while intoxicated. At the United States border crossing, the vehicle arouses the suspicions of the border guards. Despite having passports, Amelia has no letter of consent from the children's parents allowing her to take them out of the United States, and they suspect that Santiago is intoxicated. |
We also see Richard and Susan's [[Mexico|Mexican]] nanny, Amelia ([[Adriana Barraza]]), taking care of their two young children while the couple is stranded in Morocco. Due to the parents' long vacation, she is forced to take care of the children longer than anticipated. Unable to secure help to care for them, she takes them to her son's wedding in Mexico. Rather than stay the night in Mexico with the children, she decides to make the journey back with her nephew Santiago ([[Gael García Bernal]]) who throws caution to the wind and drives while intoxicated. At the United States border crossing, the vehicle arouses the suspicions of the border guards. Despite having passports, Amelia has no letter of consent from the children's parents allowing her to take them out of the United States, and they suspect that Santiago is intoxicated. |
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Revision as of 13:35, 2 March 2007
- For other uses, see Babel (disambiguation).
| Babel | |
|---|---|
| File:Babel poster32.jpg Babel poster | |
| Directed by | Alejandro González Iñárritu |
| Written by | Guillermo Arriaga |
| Produced by | Steve Golin Jon Kilik |
| Starring | Brad Pitt Cate Blanchett Gael García Bernal Kôji Yakusho Adriana Barraza Rinko Kikuchi |
| Music by | Gustavo Santaolalla |
| Distributed by | Paramount Vantage |
Release dates |  23 May, 2006 (premiere at Cannes) 27 October 2006 (limited) 10 November, 2006 15 November, 2006 7 December, 2006 (MIFF) 21 December, 2006 26 December, 2006 19 January, 2007 26 January, 2007 28 April, 2007[1] |
Running time | 142 min. |
| Countries | France Mexico USA |
| Languages | English Spanish Arabic French Japanese Japanese Sign Language Berber |
| Budget | US$25 million (estimated) |
Babel is a Golden Globe Award and Academy Award-winning 2006 film, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and written by Guillermo Arriaga. It stars Brad Pitt, Rinko Kikuchi, Adriana Barraza, Cate Blanchett, Kôji Yakusho, and Gael García Bernal. The multi-narrative drama completes González Iñárritu's "death trilogy," which also consists of Amores Perros and 21 Grams.[2]
Babel weaves together stories taking place in Morocco, Japan and Mexico. It was an international co-production between production companies based in France, Mexico and the USA. The film was first screened at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, and was later shown to audiences at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Zagreb Film Festival. It opened in selected cities in the United States on October 27, 2006, and went into full 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 and Best Director, and won one (Best Original Score).
Plot
The movie changes focus among several different situations and characters, and sometimes 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.
In a remote location in the southern Moroccan desert, Hassan sells a Winchester Model 70 bolt-action rifle and a box of 300 rounds to Abdullah, who gives it to his two teenage boys, Yussef and Ahmed, (played by local non-professional actors Boubker Ait El Caid and Said Tarchini) who look after their family's herd of goats, to kill jackals preying on the goats. To test it out, they aim from a hill at rocks and later at a bus carrying Western tourists as it passes on a highway below. Yussef's bullet hits the bus, injuring Susan (Cate Blanchett), an American woman who is traveling with her husband Richard (Brad Pitt) on vacation.
The police roughly question Hassan and beat him and his wife until they are able to tell the police that Abdullah now has the rifle. Later, the two boys confess to their father what they have done. The three flee from the police taking the rifle with them. The police shoot at them, and Yussef shoots back after his brother is shot. Yussef eventually surrenders and confesses, asking for medical treatment for his brother.
Richard and Susan were vacationing in Morocco to mend their own marital woes. It appears the sudden death of their infant son, suggested to be SIDS, has caused a strain on their marriage as they cannot communicate their frustration, guilt, and blame to each other. It is also implied that Richard left the family for a while after the infant's death. Richard and Susan are on the bus shot at by Yussef and Ahmed. When Susan is hit the bus goes to the nearest village with a doctor. The bus waits some time, but the other passengers demand that it leave, because the heat is hard to bear, and because they fear more attacks. Since Susan cannot travel by bus in her condition, the couple stays behind, together with the bus's tour guide Anwar, to wait for transport to a hospital. Political issues between the US and Morocco prevent quick help, but at last a helicopter arrives. The simplicity of the ordeal, Richard caring for and protecting Susan with the fear of losing her, brings them together.
In parallel, we Chieko (Rinko Kikuchi), a rebellious deaf Japanese teenage girl who refuses to speak. Chieko is traumatized by the recent suicide of her mother and a sense that she is not seen by others which is especially exemplified by interactions with her father, Yasujiro (Kôji Yakusho), and boys her age. In response, she has started exhibiting sexually provocative behavior, such as wearing a short skirt and no underwear. She attempts unsuccessfully to initiate a sexual encounter with her dentist. Chieko is eventually accosted by two police detectives questioning her about her father, one of whom she finds attractive, Kenji Mamiya (Satoshi Nikaido). She initially resists any questioning, but later invites Mamiya to talk with her in their apartment. Thinking the detectives were investigating her father's involvement in her mother's suicide, she tells Mamiya that her father was asleep when her mother jumped off the balcony and that she witnessed this. It turns out the detectives were, in fact, investigating a hunting trip Yasujiro took in Morocco. Yasujiro is an avid hunter and during a hunting trip in Morocco he gave his rifle, as a gift, to his tour guide, Hassan, who at the beginning of the film sold the rifle to Abdullah and his boys. We soon learn the real reason Chieko invites Mamiya to her home, as she approaches him nude and tries to sexually seduce him. He resists but comforts the sexually confused Chieko. On his way out, Chieko writes Mamiya a note and hints that she doesn't want him to read it until he leaves. On his way out, the detective crosses paths with Yasujiro; they discuss the rifle and Mamiya mentions his wife's suicide. Yasujiro is confused by the mention of a "balcony" and responds "My wife shot herself in the head. I told the police that many times" leaving questions open of how Chieko's mother actually died and why Yasujiro was under investigation over this in the first place. It is never revealed what is in the note Chieko gave to the detective.
We also see Richard and Susan's Mexican nanny, Amelia (Adriana Barraza), taking care of their two young children while the couple is stranded in Morocco. Due to the parents' long vacation, she is forced to take care of the children longer than anticipated. Unable to secure help to care for them, she takes them to her son's wedding in Mexico. Rather than stay the night in Mexico with the children, she decides to make the journey back with her nephew Santiago (Gael García Bernal) who throws caution to the wind and drives while intoxicated. At the United States border crossing, the vehicle arouses the suspicions of the border guards. Despite having passports, Amelia has no letter of consent from the children's parents allowing her to take them out of the United States, and they suspect that Santiago is intoxicated.
An initial search occurs and then Santiago is told to pull over to an area designated for more intensive inspection. Santiago panics, decides to flee and drives off before the further inspection can occur. He later drops Amelia and the children off in the desert, so he can safely get rid of the police who are in pursuit of the vehicle. He never makes it back, and Amelia and children are left stranded in the desert without food or water. After a day of walking while carrying the children, out of fatigue and necessity - realizing that they all will die if she does not get help, Amelia leaves the children behind to find someone, telling them not to move. She eventually finds a U.S. Border Patrol officer. However, the officer is more interested in arresting her than he is in helping her find the children. Amelia breaks down into tears out of love for the two children that she raised as her own. Only then does the officer allow her to lead him to where the children were left, but they have wandered away. She is taken back to what appears to be a Border Patrol station, where she is told the children have been found, and that she will be deported from the US as she has been working in the US illegally. Her protests that she had been in the US for 16 years and had looked after the children for the duration of their lives do not secure lenient treatment. We see her at the end meeting her son on the Mexican side of the border at the Tijuana crossing, having been removed from the United States. Template:Endspoiler
Themes
 | This article possibly contains original research. |
The major theme of the film is how, due to cultural assumptions, people of different types are still unable to communicate with each other. Each sub-plot features a person out of their usual world: American children lost in the borderlands, a deaf Japanese girl mourning and alone in a hearing world, and two Americans stranded in the Moroccan desert. At the same time, the movie attempts to highlight behavior that is ubiquitous across all cultures, such as a man worrying over his wife, a woman taking care of children, young boys trying to better each other, and teenagers trying to catch the attention of the opposite sex. Cultural assumptions and suspicions held against them prevent understanding, revealing the struggles with communication inherent in the human condition.
Another theme also focuses on how children are shaped into what they become after becoming witness to, or experiencing traumatic events in the lives of those whom they care for. In each story each main child actor is placed into a situation where they experience first-hand (chicken decapitation), cause (shooting an innocent traveler), or are subjugated (embarrassment for reactions by others) to events that are out of their control, and their reactions. These children play a major part in the actions and reactions of the adults who are attempting to shield/protect them from the very events they have been subject to.
These experiences are ultimately responsible for creating a tumbling chain of events. The various people featured in the film draw from their own personal knowledge, experiences, and fears when making decisions and assumptions. For instance, when Amelia's nephew is crossing the border, his (and the officer's) own personal fears and misconceptions are brought out which ultimately would lead to a series of catastrophic events. One small event is constantly catalyzed and worsened due to people's inability to communicate and common misconceptions. This inability to understand each other is exemplified in the conflict between the American and Moroccan government. They became so raveled and involved in political and national debates (fueled by their previous relationship and ideals) that they lost sight of who actually needed help and decided to persecute the ones responsible rather than helping the ones in need. Template:Spoiler-end
Production
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.
Director Alejandro González Iñárritu claims financing was in place long before Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett signed on to star in the film.[citation needed] A few insiders claim it was because Paramount was looking for a production that would be likely to contend at the Oscars, or Golden Globes.[citation needed]
Actress Adriana Barraza, who plays the role of Amelia, is a two-time survivor of minor heart attacks. She nonetheless carried actress Elle Fanning around in the hot desert of Mexico during the summer for five days during filming.
Authorship controversy
Following completion of principal photography on Babel, director Alejandro González Iñárritu and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga had a serious 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 severely criticised.[3]
Principal cast and characters
Morocco
- Brad Pitt - Richard Jones
- Cate Blanchett - Susan Jones
- Mohamed Akhzam - Anwar
- Boubker Ait El Caid - Yussef
- Said Tarchani - Ahmed
- Mustapha Rachidi - Abdullah
- Abdelkader Bara - Hassan
- Wahiba Sahmi - Zohra
Mexico
- Adriana Barraza - Amelia
- Gael García Bernal - Santiago
- Elle Fanning - Debbie Jones
- Nathan Gamble - Mike Jones
- Clifton Collins Jr. - Police Officer at Mexican border
- Michael Peña - Off. John
Japan
- Rinko Kikuchi - Chieko
- Kôji Yakusho - Yasujiro
- Satoshi Nikaido - Detective Kenji
- Yuko Murata - Mitsu
- Shigemitsu Ogi - Dentist Chieko attempts to seduce
Box office performance
Released in seven theaters on October 27, 2006, and then released wide in 1,251 theaters on November 10, 2006, Babel has earned as of February 19, 2007, $33,259,000 in North America, and $67,185,294 in the rest of the world as of February 11, 2007, for a cumulative worldwide box office total of $100,444,294.[4] As of February 19, 2007, Babel has already grossed four times its estimated production budget of $25 million.[5]
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 world-wide gross boxoffice.[6]
Nonetheless, Box Office Mojo, the current industry standard source, commented on America's poor reception for Babel, when the film expanded beyond targeted communities ("wide release"). "Babel didn't translate in wide release, grabbing $5.6 million at 1,251 locations." A film considered a hit will earn at least six times that in the first week. 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. "The ensemble drama featuring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett sold fewer tickets than other recent pictures of its ilk, like Crash, Syriana, The Constant Gardener and Magnolia."
DVD
On February 20, 2007, Babel was released on DVD by Paramount Home Entertainment. The only special feature was the theatrical trailer and various other movie previews. Babel has also been released on high-definition formats such as HD DVD.
Awards and nominations
- 79th Academy Awards:
- Nominated: Best Motion Picture of the Year (Alejandro González Iñárritu, Jon Kilik and Steve Golin)
- Nominated: Best Achievement in Directing (Alejandro González Iñárritu)
- Nominated: Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Adriana Barraza)
- Nominated: Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Rinko Kikuchi)
- Nominated: Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen (Guillermo Arriaga)
- Nominated: Best Achievement in Editing (Douglas Crise, Stephen Mirrione)
- Won: Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score (Gustavo Santaolalla)
- Cannes Film Festival:
- Won: Best Director (Alejandro González Iñárritu)
- Won: François Chalais Award (a Prize of the Ecumenical Jury)
- Nominated: Palme d'Or (Best Film)
- Golden Globe Awards:
- Won: Best Picture - Drama
- Nominated: Best Director (Alejandro González Iñárritu)
- Nominated: Best Supporting Actor (Brad Pitt)
- Nominated: Best Supporting Actress (Adriana Barraza)
- Nominated: Best Supporting Actress (Rinko Kikuchi)
- Nominated: Best Screenplay (Guillermo Arriaga)
- Nominated: Best Score (Gustavo Santaolalla)
- Screen Actors Guild Awards:
- Nominated: Best Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
- Nominated: Best Supporting Actress (Adriana Barraza)
- Nominated: Best Supporting Actress (Rinko Kikuchi)
- Top Ten Lists including:
References
- ^ Official Japan site for Japan release date, iMDb for others
- ^ Liner notes for the US release of the original soundtrack album (Concord Records catalog number CCD2-30191-2)
- ^ http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/19/news/auteur.php
- ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=babel.htm
- ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=babel.htm
- ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=21grams.htm
External links
- Official site
- Official trailer
- Babel at IMDb
- Babel Production Notes Full Production Notes
- Babel at Rotten Tomatoes
- Babel Reviews at Metacritic.com
- Babel Mansized review
- 2006 films
- Drama films
- Films featuring a white protagonist in Africa
- Films set in Africa
- Films shot in Morocco
- Films shot in Super 16
- Films shot in Super 35
- American films shot in Japan
- Arabic-language films
- Berber-language films
- English-language films
- French-language films
- Japanese-language films
- Japanese Sign-language films
- Paramount Vantage films
- Best Drama Picture Golden Globe winners