Babel

Babel was filmed in 2006 by Mexican director Alejandro G. Innaritu. This movie involves three different stories that all relate to each other in some way, yet they occur on seperate continents. These stories are used to help the audience analyze the way we treat each other. The director wants you to think.

Babel was written and directed by people who were aware of the way the world may perceive people of different races not European but it seemed as if he wanted to portray them in a different light. The viewer is taken in to the homes of these people to let them see that they're culture may be different from America's but they are a lot like Americans in their human suffering. Everyone around the world has to deal with some sort of suffering or personal struggle and who knows, that struggle may effect or involve someone else on the other side of the globe.

However I do feel that maybe since the director wasn't American it allowed for the Americans in the film to come across sometimes as more hostile and difficult to deal with. An example would be Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett's role. They played an unhappy couple who were at times rude to each other. When Blanchett's character was shot she and Pitt's character first were very hostile about the situation causing them to be difficult to others because they were afraid in a foreign country. However the unfortunate event forced them to have to depend on the kindness of strangers and trust those who they weren't familiar with. This humanized them and caused them to fall back in love with each other and be kinder to others.

This movie really allowed me to think how so many unfortunate things are going on around the world that we don't hear about or never know about. It makes you think that the little everyday problems you encounter that make you have bad days are so insignificant to having a loved one get shot in a foreign country, going to jail for not having the right legal papers to cross a border, or feeling unwanted and unloved everyday.

The powerful images of the scenes that take place in the movie, alone were not the only thing that made the movie as intense as it is. I think that the music also played a key role in building up your emotional response to what was going on. It is a intense movie with a powerful message.