The Third Draft

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Reviewed by Coach Patton
©D. Patton, All Rights Reserved

Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu
Written by Guillermo Arriaga
From an idea by Guillermo Arriaga and Alejandro González Iñárritu

Runtime: 2:22 Rated R for violence, some graphic nudity, sexual content, language and some drug use.

PLOT: 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 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.

Featuring: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Adriana Barraza, Gael García Bernal, Rinko Kikuchi, Kôji Yakusho

If you want to be understood . . . Listen

In the Bible, the story of Babel is a cautionary tale of hubris. The whole world had a common language until God, seeing that the people were building a huge tower together, "confused their speech." They could no longer understand each other, and so they scattered all over the world, each with the people who could speak their language.

And so, Babel is the name of this last in the trilogy from Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu about connections and disconnections. (21 Grams and Amores Perros are the first two). This time, he has expanded to global scale, with a story that unites Moroccan herders, American tourists, a deaf Japanese girl, and a Mexican living illegally in San Diego. There is a shooting and there is a wedding. In all three locations, there are cops, there are journeys, there is despair, there are people who cannot make themselves understood, and there is some realization, some increased understanding.

Richard (Brad Pitt) and Susan (Cate Blanchett) are the American tourists, a couple whose brittle conversation about whether it is safe to have ice cubes in their drinks lets us know right away that they have some trouble communicating. Two boys herding sheep show off with their new rifle, fire at the tour bus and Susan is hit. There is not much that feels further from home than being seriously injured in a place where you don't know anyone and hardly anyone speaks your language. Being Americans, they demand to speak to the embassy. But the possibility that the attack could be terrorism turns it into an international incident. While bureaucrats write memos and politicians make statements, Susan lies injured on a dirt floor in a village with one phone.

Their children are cared for by a loving nanny, Amelia (Adriana Barraza, Oscar nominated), whose son is getting married in Mexico. She cannot bear to miss the wedding, so she takes the children with her, spends the day and most of the night at the wedding, then foolishly rides back to the US with her nephew, who has had too much to drink. He raises the suspicions of the border guards on the way back and the nanny and children end up lost in the desert.

And in Tokyo, Chieko (Rinko Kikuchi in a brilliantly unselfconscious, Oscar-nominated performance) is at home but she also feels isolated and alienated. She is deaf, shunned by the boys she wants to flirt with. And she is a teenager who feels misunderstood by everyone. Her connection to the story is not revealed until the end.

Inarritu expands the themes of his earlier films but relies on the same technique, a mosaic of scenes that gradually assume shapes and patterns. He uses non-professional actors for most of the roles and elicits beautifully natural performances, especially from the adolescents. The film's sympathy for all of its characters is in itself the answer, or at least the beginning of one, to the questions it raises. Or at least that’s How It Seemed from Where I Sat.

Nominations: Oscars:

Best Achievement in Directing Alejandro González Iñárritu
Best Motion Picture of the Year
Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Guillermo Arriaga
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Adriana Barraza
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Rinko Kikuchi
Best Achievement in Editing
Best Achievement in Music, Original Score Gustavo Santaolalla

Winners at the Cannes Film Festival

Best Director Alejandro González Iñárritu
Prize of the Ecumenical Jury Alejandro González Iñárritu
Technical Grand Prize

Roll credits

Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Screenwriter: Guillermo Arriaga and Alejandro González Iñárritu
Cinematographer: Rodrigo Prieto
Music: Gustavo Santaolalla

CAST
Brad Pitt --- Richard
Cate Blanchett --- Susan
Gael García Bernal --- Santiago
Kôji Yakusho --- Yasujiro
Adriana Barraza --- Amelia
Harriet Walter --- Lilly
Rinko Kikuchi --- Chieko
Trevor Martin --- Douglas Babel