BABEL. Dir. Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu. 2006

This is a highly intelligent, deeply affecting film. Shot in documentary style, it offers the realism of unforced observation, yet it is brilliantly arranged and choreographed. Innaritu has achieved actors’ performances which appear absolutely natural, and understated, and which give their characters enormous dignity. The result is so accomplished that the unfolding story is totally absorbing.

A sequence of events is set off by an accident when two brothers are arguing over the distance a rifle can fire; they hit a tour bus. The introduction of the rifle into the Moroccan community suggests corruption of a way of life, and the film shows how far-reaching are the repercussions of this mishap. Innaritu plays with timing and fate, guns and panic. People are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, and characters respond differently when under pressure. Only the Englishman is unsympathetically portrayed, when his fear and suspicion overcome any compassion. Social divides and the difficulty of communicating effectively and clearly create a remoteness which is emotional not geographical, but this disconnectedness is not alienating; the audience seems to be willing the characters towards resolution, reconciliation and trust.

Innaritu tackles grief, adolescence, the loss of innocence, and family relationships, but the central theme is dislocation, and its accompanying alienation, misunderstanding and incomprehension, between people and between cultures. Individuals are apart from their countries, are unable to communicate with those they most love, are at odds with authority, and are utterly understandable and recognisable. Babel provides a huge range of characters from a wide world, yet we can identify with each and every one, with their desires and their frustrations. The effect is intensely powerful, utterly compelling and a triumph of storytelling. Flawless.

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