BABEL
Year: 2006
USA: Paramount Vantage
UK: Paramount Pictures UK
Cast: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Gael Garcia Bernal, KOji Yakusho, Adriana Barraza, Rinko Kikuchi, Elle Fanning, Nathan Gamble, Monica del Carmen, Rosa Reyes, Damian Garcia, Yuko Murata, Mohamed Akhzam, Peter Wight, Harriet Walter, Trevor Martin, Matyelok Gibbs, Georges Bousquet, Claudine Acs, Andre Oumansky, Michael Maloney, Dermot Crowley, Mustapha Amhita, Soukayna Ait Boufakri, Boubker Ait El Caid, Said Tarchani, Mustapha Rachidi, Driss Roukhe, Wahiba Sahmi, Fadmael Ouali, Zahra Ahkouk, Abdelkader Bara, Ehou Mama
Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Country: USA
USA: 142 mins
UK: 143 mins
USA Rated: R for brief violent images
UK Certificate: 15 contains strong language, violence, sex references and drug use
USA Release Date: 27 October 2007 (Limited Release)
UK Release Date: 19 January 2007
UK DVD Release Date: 21 May 2007
UK Distributor
Synopsis
"We talk about the border as a place only, instead of an idea. I believe that the real borders are the ones that exist within us." - Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
In BABEL, a tragic incident involving an American couple in Morocco sparks a chain of events for four families in different countries throughout the world. Tied by circumstance but separated by continent, culture and language, each character discovers that it is family that ultimately provides solace.
In the remote sands of the Moroccan desert, a rifle shot rings out - detonating a chain of events that will link an American tourist couple's frantic struggle to survive, two Moroccan boys involved in an accidental crime, a nanny illegally crossing into Mexico with two American children and a deaf Japanese teen rebel whose father is sought by the police in Tokyo. Separated by clashing cultures and sprawling distances, each of these four disparate groups of people are nevertheless hurtling towards a shared destiny of isolation and grief.
In the course of just a few days, they will each face the dizzying sensation of becoming profoundly lost - lost in the desert, lost to the world, lost to themselves -- as they are pushed to the farthest edges of confusion and fear as well as to the very depths of connection and love.
In this mesmerizing, emotional film that was shot in three continents and four languages - and traverses both the deeply personal and the explosively political -- acclaimed director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (21 GRAMS, AMORES PERROS) explores with shattering realism the nature of the barriers that seem to separate humankind. In doing so, he evokes the ancient concept of BABEL and questions its modern day implications: the mistaken identities, misunderstandings and missed chances for communication that, though often unseen, drive our contemporary lives.
Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Gael Garcia Bernal, Koji Yakusho, Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi lead an international ensemble of actors and non-professional actors from Morocco, Tijuana and Tokyo, who enrich BABEL's take on cultural diversity and enhance its powerful remarks on cultural links and frontiers.