The Lemon Tree

A postcard arrived for a friend of mine. It was sent to her old address in Brooklyn by a friend in Dresden, Germany. The strange thing is that it was postmarked 12/13/2001. That means it took just over 6 years to reach it’s final destination. Where has it been for that time and why did it suddenly show up now…odd.

Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Writer: Guillermo Arriaga
Cast: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Gael García Bernal

Went to see Babel last night. I was quite blown away by it – the best thing I’ve seen since Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Reminded me somewhat of Altman’s Shortcuts, with the fragmented narrative and juxtaposition of (somewhat) interweaving story-lines. However in contrast to Shortcuts, there are other dimensions to Babel.

There is a real sense of division throughout the movie with the characters allocated to positions of inequality and discrimination: the older Spanish child-minder is cut off from her family south of the border; the deaf Japanese girl is disconnected from society and struggles to communicate her feelings; the Moroccan kids are isolated from the developed world in general; the American couple find themselves in a foreign land struggling to understand each other, and later Brad Pitt’s character has to overcome international political divisions in order to save his wife’s life.

Borders and the coercive power of the state to enforce divisions is also a strong theme throughout the movie. The juxtaposition of stories of characters from different classes and nationalities manages to draw out the inequalities that exist within and across countries. While the American couple’s story is covered by the media within the movie, the Moroccan kids or the Mexican woman’s stories are hidden. The primarily state-led violence and discrimination that is committed against them is not headline news. But even the American couples’ story is not covered in an honest way, it needs to fit into a predictable schematic pattern for it to be newsworthy – that of a terrorist attack.

Even with the divisive forces of borders and discrimination there are small glimpses of hope. Some characters do manage to overcome certain divisions and make some kind of connection. This softens the sense of isolation and loneliness that pervades the movie – Brad Pitt recognizes the selfless nature of the Moroccan man who helped his wife stay alive; the Japanese detective offers some tenderness to the deaf girl; the Spanish child-minder talks of how she loved the American children as if they were her own. Sadly, the one story that offers little hope is that of the Moroccan kids.