Babel (2006)

It seems somewhat ironic that a Biblical story meant to warn of the dangers of misguided ambition could lead to a film comprised of just that - misguided ambition. In the Bible, the Tower of Babel built to connect the human race to the heavens - not, in fact, to worship God. (This little snag led to God's separation of people and languages and, essentially, the world as we now know it.) It tells of the dangers of doing great things for the wrong reasons, which is interesting to consider in the face of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's film, Babel. The movie focuses on a hit-or-miss (mostly miss) collection of characters whose actions all but eliminate any possible sympathy we'd have for them. It's essentially the polar opposite of the biblical tale; forget factoring motives into the equation of greatness - there's nothing great about them to speak of.

Babel gives us four different stories, each with characters from different dramatically flawed backgrounds. After the American couple (Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett) - positively glamorous by comparison, we get more initially compelling personae like Chieko (Rinko Kikuchi), the Japanese deaf and mute girl who struggles for acceptance by those around her. It's all very emotional, and you'd almost be moved if part of the reason for her alienation weren't the fact that she's a complete pervert - sexually assaulting doctors and policemen one minute, only to make like Britney Spears and flash her...well, you know...the next.

The film's other factions are a set of rural Moroccan brothers and the family of the American couple's Mexican nanny (Adriana Barraza), but in the end, the only ones we care about are Pitt and Blanchett. Don't snicker; throughout the film, they're the only ones who remain completely innocent and likable. Sadly, no conflict is more dire than theirs - the result of truly stupid maneuvers by those in the remaining three sagas. Unfortunately, we shift back and forth so much to the ones we don't care about that we start to question why they're there, which ultimately diminishes the effect of those we do.

Misguided ambition? Let's examine Babel. The film came out just months after another (superior) cultural conflict film, Crash, had won Best Picture at the Oscars. The predecessor was a powerful film that delivered its message - yes, it actually had one - through a wide variety of truly compelling characters. That's where the greatness came from; even when characters were complete assholes, you wanted to know what happened to them - you cared enough to want to.

Babel, on the other hand, has no real message at all. The movie runs marathons without actually taking a step in any direction, and seems to have channeled all its ambition for the wrong reason - to continue on and possibly upstage the trend set by Crash. Sound familiar? The film's flawed characters and pretentious nature liken it to climbing the mythical tower by which it was inspired; it's a seemingly never-ending task, and its drawbacks far outweigh the rewards. Sure, it's nifty how they took a Biblical story into a modern context - but there's more to film-making than that, and Babel simply doesn't have it. Without a doubt one of the worst nominees for Best Picture that I can think of. Watch carefully, if at all.

1 star out of 4
3/10