Babel (2006)

Babel (2006) by Angiela Mae H. Conte 

Cast: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Gael García Bernal, Rinko Kikuchi, Adriana Barraza, Koji Yakusho, Said Tarchani, Boubker Ait El Caid, Elle Fanning, Nathan Gamble

Directed by: Alejandro Gonzales

Morocco - It all started with a struggling Moroccan family who bought a gun from an old man. The father of the two boys tasked his sons to look after the herd and kill any animal who threatens the herd but since Yussef, the younger brother, was a better shot in comparison to his older brother, the father praised him more which led to the older brother being jealous of Yussef. During the time that the two boys were looking after the herd, a little bit of sibling rivalry and bruised ego came into play. The boys ended up having some sort of competition which was how far the could fire the gun. They tried aiming at the bus but when the older brother tried, he only his dust  but when Yussef tried, he hit the bus. When they saw the bus stop, they panicked and ran. The following day, detectives were looking for the suspects and the evidence that they found led them to the previous owner of the gun. The old man/previous owner was brutally interrogated by the police, the wife of the old man could not take it anymore so she defends him and leads the police to the family where the old man sold his gun. When the police found the family, the boys and their father ran out of fear. The police started firing at them and against the father's will, Yussef decided to fire back. The retaliation made the police more determined to hit any of them that Yussef's older brother was hit. When that happened, Yussef finally surrendered and the police ceased firing. While Yussef approached the police, he was sobbing and begging the police to save his brother and kill him instead. Yussef already realized the consequence of his actions but it was already too late for his brother.

America - Richard and Susan Jones' marriage was falling apart because of the child that they lost. Not wanting to see their family separated, they decided that they would go on a trip, just the two of them to try and rekindle the flame of their marriage. While they were on the bus, on their way to another tourist destination, out of nowhere a bullet hit Susan's shoulder. Richard was cradling his wife's slowly weakening body in his chest while yelling for the driver to stop the bus and call for help. Eventually, the driver did but he informed Richard that there was no way they could get to the nearest hospital because the tour bus was suppose to be on schedule. Desperate to save his wife, Richard gets off the bus and tries to catch the attention of the only oncoming vehicle that they saw but instead of  helping them, the driver of the other vehicle left out of fear because Richard was covered in blood. They didn't much choice left and the bus driver was merciful enough that he decided to drive Richard and Susan to the nearest village to seek help. Once they were in the small village, Richard was able to put Susan into one of the homes where a local healer resided in. While they were trying to get Susan settled, Richard looked for a phone within that village to call the U.S. Embassy and ask for help. He was once again informed that the embassy had to settle a few things before they could come to help. In that incident, Richard and Susan realized that their love was worth fighting for and that the idea of losing each other was undeniably unbearable.

Mexico - Amelia was the nanny of Richard and Susan's children. She was informed by Richard that he and his wife were already back in the U.S. but because of the incident they wouldn't be able to come back immediately. Amelia's son was getting married so she tries to ask Richard if it was okay with them if she went back to Mexico and that she would just leave the kids with other people that she trusts. Richard refuses but Amelia was determined to see her son get married so she brings the white children to the Mexican border, which was a very dumb move if I say so myself. Once the wedding was over, she asks her nephew, Santiago who completely intoxicated, to drive the back to the U.S. but when they tried to cross the border the officer didn't make them cross right away because they got suspicious due to Amelia's lack of immigration papers and consent for letting the children cross the border. Santiago got skittish and decided to make a run for it and gunned his car, he left his aunt and the children with a flashlight in the middle of nowhere and instructed them to hide from the police while he tried to lose them. The following day, Amelia and the children were exhausted and on the brink of getting a sunstroke so out of desperation she decides to leave the children under a shade while she called for help. She eventually found a cop car patrolling the desert and Amelia begged the cop to look for the kids first. One police cruiser looked for the kids while the other brought Amelia to the station to be interrogated. Amelia was eventually informed that the kids were found but that she was deported from the U.S., she tried to beg for that to be changed because her life was in the U.S. but they couldn't change anything anymore because what she was doing was illegal.

Japan - Chieko Wataya was a deaf-mute and sexually frustrated teenager. She was angry at the world and angered by the fact that she was treated differently because she was deaf mute which led her into a very questionable lifestyle. One day two detectives came by the apartment that she shared with her father, she asked if the detectives visits involved the suicide case of her mother. The detectives declined and said they weren't in any trouble but that they needed to talk to her father so they left her a business card. She also noticed that one of the detectives were attractive so after a night of partying and a failed attempt of seducing the guy that she wanted, she decides to call one of the detectives telling him that she wanted to talk but didn't specify. The detective, desperate for information, agreed to the meeting and went to the apartment. When he got there Chieko started talking about the suicide of her mother which confused the officer since he was not there for that but Chieko kept on talking. Eventually they stopped talking and the detective was about to ask about what he really came for when out of nowhere Chieko, approached him completely baring all of her goods/naked. Chieko tried to seduce the detective but instead of letting lust take him over, he steps away from Chieko and tells her to stop. The rejection caused Chieko to feel inadequate and completely insecure which is how she ended up crying infront of the detective. After that episode, the detective left Chieko. He was almost out of the building when he came across the father of Chieko where he discussed about what he really came for. He asked about the gun that Chieko's father, who was a seasoned hunter, gave to a Moroccan. Chieko's father confirmed that he had given the gun as a gift and that it was never from the black market.



The multi narratives showed why all of the stories were somewhat connected with each other.  It also pretty much explained why the movie was called Babel. Babel is a story within the scripture about a tower that was built by the people of God with the goal to reach the heavens not knowing how foolish that goal is. What they did angered the Lord which led him to separate one country into several nations with different languages so they wouldn't understand each other again and so they will be unable to make such an attempt next time. The Babel of the movie was the rifle, which showed the connection between the four places. The multi-narratives was able to explain it clearly and I was able to to understand it more.

The time affected the story of the movie in such a way that it was much more understandable for the viewers to see how it was all connected to the series of events that was happening before them. As for the plot, because of the time, it was able to describe the movie more to the viewers.

Causal motivation or composition is justifying the presence of an element by its function in advancing the plot. It all began with a Japanese hunter who gave away his prized rifle to his guide in Morocco, which the guide sold to a poor family. The father who bought the gun tasked his sons to kill wild animals but instead the bullet hit an American woman who was the mother of the two American children which were being looked after by their Mexican nanny. By seeing and actually finishing the movie, you could see the significance in every character or role being played and how their roles caused the connection between the four distances.