Rating: R
Genre:
Drama
Theatrical Release: 10/27/2006(USA
Release Date: 02/20/2007
Flags: Violence, Nudity, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Profanity, Sexual Situations, Drug Content
Distributor/Studio: Paramount
The tragic aftermath of human carelessness travels around the world in this multi-narrative
drama from filmmaker
Alejandro González Iñárritu.
Richard (
Brad Pitt) and
Susan (
Cate Blanchett) are a couple from the United States who have traveled to Morocco in Northern Africa on a vacation after the death of one of their children has sent
Susan into a deep depression.
Richard and
Susan's other two children have been left in the care of
Amelia (
Adriana Barraza), their housekeeper.
Amelia is originally from Mexico, and her oldest son is getting married in Tijuana. Unable to find someone who can watch the kids, or to obtain permission to take the day off,
Amelia takes the children with her as she travels across the border for the celebration. Around the same time, in Morocco a poor farmer buys a hunting rifle, and he gives it to his sons to scare off the predatory animals that have been thinning out their goat herd. The boys decide to test the weapon's range by shooting at a bus far away; the shot hits
Susan in the shoulder, and soon she's bleeding severely, while police are convinced the attack is the work of terrorists. In Japan,
Chieko (
Rinko Kikuchi) is a teenage deaf-mute whose mother recently committed suicide. This despairing, confused girl experiences such rage and frustration that she causes her volleyball team to lose a match, and later yanks her underwear off and begins exposing herself to boys in a crowded restaurant.
Chieko's father then struggles to reach past the emotional distance which separates him and his daughter.
Babel earned
Alejandro González Iñárritu the prize for Best Director at the
2006 Cannes Film Festival.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
;)
