Thick plot in "Babel"

By Carmen Hernandez
The Collegian

The director of “Babel,” a film released Friday, was not shy about blatant nudity and mesmerizing emotion. Starring Brad Pitt, “Babel” was shot on three continents and in four languages.

In “Babel,” a tragic accident involving an American couple traveling abroad sparks a chain of events for three families in Tokyo, Tijuana and Morocco.

In the film, each city is linked together by a thread. Miscommunications between city governments and media create realistic but dismaying political situations and conflicting events.

As an American couple in Morocco, Brad Pitt and his wife, played by Cate Blanchett, are stranded in a village after she is accidentally shot. Help for the couple is delayed when the U.S. government declares the incident to be an act of terrorism. Meanwhile the couple reaches out to a village for help in trying to survive for four days, and a chain of events unravels in Tijuana and Tokyo.

The nanny for the American couple’s children has no other choice but to take them to Mexico for her son’s wedding. A traumatic journey overtakes them and the nanny gets deported while trying to bring the children home.

In a linked story, a father and his conflicted deaf daughter from Tokyo are tied to the incident in Morocco by the owner of the rifle that was used to shoot the American woman.

The film captured emotion by included daring revelations from the characters. In the beginning of the film, the village boy who accidentally shoots the American woman is caught peeping through a hole at a neighbor girl who is undressing.

In Tokyo, the deaf girl rebels in society by exposing her vagina to some boys who rejected her because she was deaf. Throughout the film she tried seducing doctors and police officers buy getting naked as a cry for attention.

Drama and suspense were what Paramount Vantage aimed for and accomplished as the audience took gasps for air and sighs of relief.

Watching the film was like traveling in three different countries because of the parallel stories in Morocco, Tokyo and Tijuana. Each segment involved political views that unveiled mistaken identities and misunderstandings.

While “Babel’s” intensity may have been overwhelming the meaning behind the story is powerful.

Third World countries, cultural diversity and political perspectives were captivating.

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