Starring: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Gael Garcia Bernal
Rating: 10/10
Directed By: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Runtime: 142 minutes
Every year a handful of movies are labeled “important” by critics, studios, etc. A lot of the time they are documentaries but almost all of the time they are “issue” films. They are films that focus on a particular topic that is usually contemporary and very relevant. To suggest these films aren’t important would be preposterous but what I would like to begin this review by saying is that, more often than not, the issues at the center of many of these films are important to a particular generation, a particular place and time in history. Films like Fahrenheit 9/11 are important upon their initial release but they lose their relevance as an administration comes to an end. In times of war you are likely to find films that both support (i.e. The Green Berets) or denounce (i.e. M.A.S.H.) it. More often than not these films say little about the human condition but they speak to the national consciousness so they will ultimately earn the label.
Then there are films like Babel.
Babel is an important film no matter what the political and social environment because it focuses on something as timeless as people’s need to connect. No matter how emotionally detached a person might seem there is always an overriding desire to connect with another person; to share with someone your thoughts and feeling and Babel spends its 2 ½ hour runtime commenting on just that.
The story follows four separate plotlines and much like Inarritu’s other works (Amores Perros, 21 Grams) it does so with no defined narrative structure or chronology. Ultimately, it plays out as a series of vignettes that places characters in contrasting but similar situations in which their salvation or damnation rides on their ability to communicate with one another. There is a husband and wife that can’t find the proper words to communicate following the death of their young son. There is a maid that can’t communicate with the people in the country she lives because she doesn’t speak their native tongue. There is a deaf-mute who can’t communicate without pen and paper. And in all of these stories there is a strong desire to find that connection that can only be born out of communication.
I will take the bold step and say that there will not be a better movie this year. There certainly won’t be a more important one.