BABEL (2006)

(a film review by Timothy J. Verret)

BABEL is a film that truly does not diminish in time and might even more timely than ever, as it explores the ripple effect of one action that leads to human destruction, depravity, and death that spans three continents. While the film might be hard to follow with multiple storylines, they are interwoven as a commentary on how the frailty of the human condition knows no borders. Not too many films could juggle a young Moroccan boy’s innocent shooting of an American woman, a Mexican woman stranded in the desert with two American children, a Japanese girl coming to terms with the death of her mother and the shame of awakening sexually, and somehow merge these stories into one theme: We are ALL interconnected and we are ALL one despite nationalities and we are ALL deeply affected when one person or action sets off a chain effect to mirror our individual defects and our lack of true connection and communication. The word, “babel,” is referenced as the Tower of Babel in the Bible and also is defined as “noise, confusion.” Yes, perfect title for this nearly perfect film, as “noise, confusion” is what we all share in our relationships, why we all fail to communicate love in our relationships, and how we all will reach atonement in our relationships when we learn to see how perfectly alike we all are.