Babel was released in 2006, and I didn’t see it. For one, it had Brad Pitt in it, and I was a bit tired of Brad in his endless ‘pretty man in his forties’ roles. But this is different! I see certain things with different eyes now, including having the suspicion that Brad Pitt is probably a really decent guy, can’t help being so good looking, and may have just lent himself to the art film world, allowing his popularity to raise the box office-sales. And for a cause like this one, it’s a good thing, indeed. At this point I must however clearly say, that he only waves the flag, and does not carry the film with his acting: Pitt is decent, but the superb acting seen in Babel is delivered by actors and actresses I had never heard of before. Like the young, desperate teenage girl played by Rinko Kikuchi. And the Mexican nanny played by Adriana Barraza. They were truly brilliant, and got awards for it, too.

The special thing about this film lies in the naturalness of the acting, and in the way things develop without forced drama. Mostly however, in  the way it has no mercy on the audience. It doesn’t sell you out for a half-wit who will be satisfied with a watered-down version of the concept they attempt to convey. I will spare the reader a synopsis at this point: if you want one, please go and look on those database sites. Babel is a drama, but it is drama in the way that one could truly expect life to happen. I don’t know many films that do that; off-hand all I can think of is ‘Deliverance’ with Burt Reynolds. I think it is not popular to make real-life type drama films, because it makes the viewer so uncomfortable. Reality, I surmise, is really uncomfortable business.

Due to the 2nd and 3rd unit photography sometimes you have the feeling you are in a moving picture of a report from the National Geographic magazine. But then, on the edge of your seat, cringing as to what is going to happen to these people. Real feelings of compassion and devastating vulnerability. At the point where the nanny leaves the kids in the desert I had to stop myself from leaving my seat, I hardly could bear it! (I have children, please excuse me.)

Not all of the 3 interlocking stories have a fatal ending, but one senses a sort of worldly fatality; like realizing that certain things must always follow their own course; like a train going to the end of the line, which you cannot stop purely by telling it how it is. Which brings us to what this film is essentially about: communication. It is an elegant tale of how in a ‘normal’ world – a world run by dialogue between the educated, in which we are protected by conventions and commissions and an embassy somewhere – templates which cloud one’s  judgement can devastate people’s lives.

Alejandro González Inárritu made a brilliant film, a film that will cost you, a film you will think about, and maybe change the way you think about the world. [ACN]