I know the film is titled Babel, but they shouldn't make it that hard to understand...

If anyone has seen Alejando Gonzalez Iñárritu's last two films, Amores Perros and 21 Grams, you could understand my anticipation to see his third film, Babel, about how seemingly unrelated events interact to create tragic consequences. Keep in mind I was suffering from a bit of indigestion while I watched this movie, which might have skewed my judgement.

Brad Pitt (Richard) and Cate Blanchett (Susan) get the star billing, although their story of an American married couple on vacation in Morocco trying to deal with what I think is the death of their child to SIDS, is only one part of four. The film actually begins with two child brothers in the rural Moroccan mountains whose father just purchased a gun to help them protect their goats from predatory jackals. In the midst of testing the range of their newly acquired weapon, Susan is accidently shot while traveling in a tour bus. The tragic accident has repercussions back in the United States, where Richard and Susan's children are in the care of an illegal Mexican immigrant, Amelia. Having no one to take care of them, Amelia must take the children with her across the border to attend her own son's wedding. Getting into Mexico is easy, but getting back to California poses unexpected challenges. Meanwhile in Japan, a teenage girl (Chieko) who is deaf and mute, struggles to cope with the world around her that doesn't seem to offer any emotional affection for her. Chieko's link to the other events in the film are eventually revealed towards the end of the film, although this doesn't really have any climactic plot importance other than to further show the ripple effect from the chaos theory events.

I really wanted to love this film. As is Iñárritu's style, the story is told in a very nonlinear way that somehow never gets the audience lost despite chronological jumps back and forth in time. The acting is very solid. Rinko Kikuchi, who plays Chieko, gives quite a heartwrenching performance which is always a challenge when one can't speak. I honestly can't name a bad job Cate Blanchett has ever done. Even Brad Pitt, in his limited screen time, wasn't half bad. And, like Iñárritu's previous films, the movie is beautifully shot.

The problem, though, is the film is just plain sloooooow. Again, perhaps I was just too focused on my gastroesophogeal reflux or maybe I just wasn't in the mood for subtitles, but it seemed like all kinds of literal time would pass with really nothing being told to move the story along. On top of that, I just didn't get what the real point was. What exactly was the central theme of this film? Chieko's story seems to be the emotional heart of the story, but I walked out of the theater still trying to wrap my head around how her struggles really related to the rest of the stories hers intertwined with. Some people came out of the theater crying--maybe I should have asked them.

Perhaps I'll need to give this one a second viewing when I'm feeling better. As good as his last two films were, I'd hate to dismiss this possible finale to his "trilogy" so quickly. Definitely put his other films on your Netflix queue, though. And if you get a chance to catch Babel in the theaters, maybe you can explain to me what I'm missing.

** (out of *****)