| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Brad Pitt | ... | Richard | |
| Cate Blanchett | ... | Susan | |
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Mohamed Akhzam | ... | Anwar |
| Peter Wight | ... | Tom | |
| Harriet Walter | ... | Lilly | |
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Trevor Martin | ... | Douglas |
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Matyelok Gibbs | ... | Elyse |
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Georges Bousquet | ... | Robert |
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Claudine Acs | ... | Jane |
| André Oumansky | ... | Walter | |
| Michael Maloney | ... | James | |
| Dermot Crowley | ... | Barth | |
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Wendy Nottingham | ... | Tourist |
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Henry Maratray | ... | Tourist |
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Linda Broughton | ... | Tourist |
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 ... Written by Mac
I admire Gonzalez Inarritu's balls and his talent of course. He opens himself up for a barrage of criticism and ridicule but at the end his genius wins. I saw the film months ago and I still think about it. I haven't seen it again because the recollection is so powerful and I don't want to mess it up by seeing it again intentionally. The Mexican woman with the white kids in the desert has become part of my nightmares. What an enormous thing for a movie to accomplish. I'm giving it a 10 and not because I "like" the film so much but because I saw myself coming to the conclusion that the film is a masterpiece all on my own. It inspires respect. Christ! I can't believe I'm saying that but I am and I'm meaning every word. In a way it reminds me of Bunuel's "Viridiana" a film that I hated so much it has become one of the most important films of my life. Go figure. To be disturbed. I mean deeply disturbed is a strange experience and I suspect that it has to do with being confronted by the truth.