Review : Babel

Babel is a movie where four vignettes are linked together: An American tourist and his wife who gets accidentally shot while on vacation in Morocco, the children's nanny who is an illegal Mexican immigrant, the Moroccan family whose kids accidentally shoot the American tourist and a Japanese teenager in Tokyo.

While three are directly connected (The Americans, the nanny and the Moroccan shooter), the Japanese connection is a bit tenuous, which is a bit ironical since that is the most appealing part of the movie.

The vignette of the Japanese teenager dealing with the trauma of her mother's death and her own emerging identity while coping with being disabled, is brilliant. The urban loneliness in Tokyo, portrayed throught the experiments of the teenagers and more brilliantly throught the bleak, concrete skyline view from her balcony, is the best part of the movie.

The nanny's story of how she takes the children to Mexico for her son's marriage and on the way back gets into trouble with the police and finally gets deported is also an interesting as well as touching story about the situation of immigrants to theUS - especially the illegal ones.

The other two are fairly straight stories - while the insight into Moroccos's rural settlements, confused political situation is good, it doesn't leave an imprint because it is so connected to the story of the Americans, which is the least appealing bit of the movie.

The format, the coherence and the handling are really superb and so is the camera which brings out the sense of desolation and loneliness so very eloquently. If this movie has been nominated for Best Cameraman, it just deserves to win. The movie is also rather intense and leaves you with a feeling of isolation and depression which is characteristic of today's existence. I just can't understand the significance of the title or the Hollywoodified American family. For the most part definitely good. Must watch.