Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Amores perros (2000) is one a handful of films that changed the way I looked at cinema and fueled my desire to explore the wider world of cinematic art. Landmark Theaters’ slogan, “The language of cinema is universal,” while risking cliché, continues to be a revelation because of filmmakers like Iñárritu. Ironically, Iñárritu’s Babel, the third of a loose thematic trilogy (after 2003’s 21 Grams), takes a greater interest in the difficulties we have in communicating – not just between cultures and languages, but with those whom we love.
Like the previous two films, this is a study of intersecting episodes delicately arranged by screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga. Here the action takes place in Morocco, Mexico, the United States, and Japan, connecting a superficial narrative that exposes a central relationship on each continent struggling through a crisis of communication and trust. An American couple (Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett) travel to Morocco for what may be a vain attempt to rescue their damaged marriage. Meanwhile, their nanny (Adriana Barraza) finds herself at the mercy of her reckless nephew (Gael García Bernal) — and the inconsistent U.S. immigration practices — after she desperately takes her wards across the Mexican border so she can attend her son’s wedding.
Elsewhere, a successful businessman and widower (Kôji Yakusho) struggles to connect with his daughter (Rinko Kikuchi), whose adjustments as a teenager are more perilous as a result of the absence of her mother and her being a deaf mute in a frenetically aural culture. Finally, in rural Morocco, the competitiveness and moral conflict between two young goat-herding brothers (Boubker Ait El Caid and Said Tarchani) results in significant bloodshed. The children give performances which are as superbly natural as the rest of the talented cast. However, the Moroccan story — introduced first in the film — is underdeveloped by the writer and director and reveals a vague vacancy throughout the film that, despite its near perfect telling, prevents the film from resonating like the previous two.
Or perhaps the film just doesn’t live up to the weight of its title. The Biblical story of the Tower of Babel suggests that our global linguistic hurdles are the result of our inherently vain and misguided lot as human beings. The film works tremendously well simply as a humanitarian portrait of these individual families and the cruelty that results for a lack of understanding between individuals. I suspect the filmmakers initially set out with the goal of addressing larger geo-political issues, but never really have the opportunity to fully connect with that ambition. How far have we come since the Tower of Babel at understanding one another? As represented by the stereotypical British tourist on the Moroccan tour bus, I suspect the better question is, do we really want to?
Here are this morning’s Oscar-nominated films, alphabetically. The nominees for foreign language film and documentary feature are compiled at the end of the list. (Short format nominees are listed in a 
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