Babel

"Babel" was not at all what I expected, and that's not a good thing. A story told from three countries that intertwines four unique groups of people, "Babel" tries to be like "Crash" but fails in more ways than one. Granted, two thirds of the movie is outstanding, it's the other third, though, that brings the whole concept down.

Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett are an American couple on a tour through Morocco as they try to get past the recent loss of a son to sudden infant death syndrome. Meanwhile, as their tour bus winds through remote mountains, two pre-teen goat herders are testing the accuracy of the new rifle their father acquired. One boy chooses to shoot at the bus, drilling Blanchett in the neck. Out of reach of civilization, the couple is forced to a small village with one phone. While Pitt tries to get the American Embassy to send help, Blanchett hangs on for dear life.

Now, back in the States, the nanny to the Pitt/Blanchett children (Oscar nominee Adriana Barraza) is trying to get to her son's wedding. Having nobody to watch the two kids (one played by Dakota Fanning's sister), she decides to take them across the border into Mexico. This does not go well.

That brings us to the weakest link in the entire mix. We follow Oscar-nominated Rinko Kikuchi, who plays the role of a mute, horny Japanese girl growing up in Tokyo. Basically, and I'm not giving anything away here, her dad is the one who gave a rifle to a Moroccan who gave the rifle to the goat herder whose kid shot Blanchett. And that's why her kids are stuck in the Mexican desert. Got it?

The Mexican and Moroccan pieces of the story are excellent, with powerful performances from Barraza and Pitt. The Japanese portion, while well-played by Kikuchi, lacks emotion and believability. This is very unfortunate, because I can't overlook this portion of the movie and give the rest of it a pass. "Babel" tries to be a movie in three parts tied together by one event. Instead, the story is weakened by the sum of its parts. "Babel" isn't completely incoherent, but in the end not much makes sense. I give it a B-.

"Babel" is rated R with a running time of 142 minutes.