Babel (2006)

Tragedy strikes a married couple on vacation in the Moroccan desert, touching off an interlocking story involving four different families.

Director:

Alejandro G. Iñárritu (as Alejandro González Iñárritu)

Writers:

Guillermo Arriaga, Guillermo Arriaga (idea)

Stars:

Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Gael García Bernal

Won 1 Oscar. Another 41 wins & 134 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Brad Pitt	...	Richard
Cate Blanchett	...	Susan
Mohamed Akhzam	...	Anwar
Peter Wight	...	Tom
Harriet Walter	...	Lilly
Trevor Martin	...	Douglas
Matyelok Gibbs	...	Elyse
Georges Bousquet	...	Robert
Claudine Acs	...	Jane
André Oumansky	...	Walter
Michael Maloney	...	James
Dermot Crowley	...	Barth
Wendy Nottingham	...	Tourist
Henry Maratray	...	Tourist
Linda Broughton	...	Tourist

Storyline

4 interlocking stories connected by a single gun converge at the end to reveal a complex and tragic story of the lives of humanity around the world and how we truly aren't all that different. In Morocco, a troubled married couple are on vacation trying to work out their differences. Meanwhile, a Moroccan herder buys a rifle for his sons so they can keep the jackals away from his herd. A girl in Japan dealing with rejection, the death of her mother, the emotional distance of her father, her own self-consciousness, and a disability among many other issues, deals with modern life in the enormous metropolis of Tokyo, Japan. Then, on the opposite side of the world the married couple's Mexican nanny takes the couple's 2 children with her to her son's wedding in Mexico, only to come into trouble on the return trip. Combined, it provides a powerful story and an equally powerful looking glass into the lives of seemingly random people around the world and it shows just how connected we really ...

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Plot Keywords:

american | mexican border | mini skirt | public nudity | female rear nudity | 

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Taglines:

If You Want to be Understood...Listen

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, some graphic nudity, sexual content, language and some drug use

Details

Official Sites:

West Video [Russia]

Country:

France USA Mexico

Language:

English Arabic Spanish Japanese Berber languages French Russian Japanese Sign Language

Release Date:

10 November 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Вавилон

Filming Locations:

Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$389,351, 29 October 2006, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$34,302,837

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$135,330,182

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Anonymous Content

Technical Specs

Runtime:

143 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The scene where Chieko (Rinko Kikuchi) and her father are in the car together was shot without filming permission from the city due to slow Japanese bureaucratic procedures. The crew created "man-made" busy traffic, and began shooting the scene. Later the police started chasing them while still shooting the scene.

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Goofs

(at around 47 mins) When the two Japanese cops meet Chieko, the older one says his name is Amano Yoshio, but the subtitles read Amamo Yoshjo.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Hassan: It's almost new. Three hundred cartridges. The guy who gave it to me said you can hit as far as three kilometers.

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Connections

Referenced in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: Million Dollar Movie Week 3 (2009)

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Soundtracks

(Only) Love Can Conquer Hate
Written, Composed and Performed by Ryuichi Sakamoto
©2004 KAB America Inc., Administered Worldwide, Except Japan, by EMI/Virgin Music. Japan: KAB Inc.
From the KAB America and Warner Music Japan release "Chasm"
EMI Virgin/EMI Musical

User Reviews

The Virtue Of Misunderstanding

There is nothing coincidental about the human connection but if you're interested in finding a reason for it, for them - you would have to dig into your spirit. It was meant to be and it was meant to be in the way that it unfolds, no matter how absurd, how contradictory, how seemingly coincidental. I don't know anything about Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, other than he is one of the most extraordinary filmmakers to emerge in the 00's, but I suspect he has the soul of a Christian prophet, the mysticism behind the realism of his stories reek of God and of New Testament. Amores Perros, 21 Grams (the weight of the soul, remember?) now Babel the famous, or infamous biblical tower. Gonzalesz Inarritu has put together an immediate universe populated by incomprehension and humanity shaken and wrapped in a bloody cloth of the purest linen. His images will remain with me forever in particular Adriana Barraza's moment with the American kids in the desert. A total triumph.