By Lubna Abdel-Aziz His name is long, hard, and unfamiliar, but once you know it, it is unforgettable. His films are intricate, complex, and uncomfortable, but once you see them, they are unforgettable. He is the Mexican film director, Alejandro Gonzàles Iñàrritu, and he just won Best Director honours for his new powerful film Babel, at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. Hailed as the first great film on globalisation, Babel boasts a star- studded international cast -- Hollywood's Brad Pitt, Australia's Cate Blanchett, Mexico's Gael Garcia Bernal, and Japan's Koji Yakusho. Winning at Cannes is nothing new for Iñàrritu. His first feature film, Amorés Perros (Love's a Bitch, 2000), won Cannes' Critics' Award, 2000, a BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and an Oscar nomination for the same category. It became an international hit, opening Hollywood doors to Iñàrritu, where he made his second much acclaimed feature 21 Grams, another great critics' favourite, winning Oscar nominations for Sean Penn, Benicio del Torro and Naomi Watts. Babel promises the same degree of success. Like his two previous films, Babel interconnects the lives of diverse and contradictory characters, brought together by a common coincidence or act of fate. This multiple story line technique is an Oscar favourite, witnessed by Best Film winners Crash (2006), and Traffic (2002) among others. The favourable reviews and the win at Cannes are already generating Oscar bruit for Babel, which will surely help revenues at the box-office, come October, its scheduled release date. Set in the Moroccan desert where Pitt and Blanchett, an American couple, are vacationing, a shot is heard that affects lives in Morocco, the US, Mexico, and Japan. Three different stories become enmeshed in one, a style mastered by Iñàrritu in his two previous outings. A stray bullet by a small innocent Moroccan boy, pierces the roof of the couple's tour bus, hurting Blanchett. In the US, their trusted Mexican nanny, in charge of the couple's children, needs to attend her own son's wedding in Mexico. Unable to find a babysitter for the children, she is forced to take them with her across the border, where there is increased panic over illegal alien crossing. Meanwhile in Tokyo, a young Japanese girl, deaf and mute, struggles to comprehend her mother's suicide. Such a multicultural assemblage, speaks in multilingual tongues -- Spanish, English, Arabic, and Japanese -- but their differences are insurmountable. Language is not the only barrier. "For me the problems are those of prejudice and misconceptions," says Iñàrritu, "lack of communication is what really pulls us apart." A political multicultural hop-scotch, Babel is obviously inspired by the familiar Biblical story (Genesis 11:1-9). Following the flood, Noah's descendants of Nimrod's lineage, settled in southern Mesopotamia: "Come let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens. Let us make a name for ourselves lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." To confound them in their task, God caused the people to speak in different languages, so they were incapable of communicating with each other. Unable to reconcile their differences, the building of the tower was abandoned and the different groups with the various tongues, dispersed around the world. The Hebrews believe this represented the origin of the world's languages. Babylonians built great towers (ziggurats), circular in shape, with an ascending staircase that terminates with a shrine at the top, dedicated to a patron god or goddess, around which are written the signs of the Zodiac. Archaeologists discovered the remains of over 30 great towers; some believe they found the remains of the original tower of Babel. Babel is composed of two words -- Bab, meaning gate, and El, meaning God. In Arabic and Hebrew a related word means confusion. The concept of the failed tower of Babel, because of the lack of communication between men, is Iñàrritu's theme. Politically motivated, the film deals extensively with the dilemma of the present conflict between Mexico and the US over illegal immigration. He tells with compassion and understanding, of the fear of terrorists crossing the border, of exaggerated security measures, of religious extremism, of loss and disillusion. Yet he shows little compassion or understanding for a land that was shattered following 9/11 and the tragedy that befell 3,000 victims and their families in an attack, unprecedented in the history of mankind. While brazen in his attack of the US war on terror, he shows little tolerance for the fear in the heart of Americans. 9/11 left the whole world scared. Nicknamed "il-negro", because of his very bronze tan, the 43-year-old Iñàrritu is himself an immigrant to the US, having chosen to live there five years ago. Many foreign directors, like Oscar winner Ang Lee ( Brokeback Mountain, 2006) of Taiwan, have found success in Hollywood, but have not left their home country. Iñàrritu preaches tolerance, addressing the pain, humiliation and suffering of those mistakenly suspect, feared, or accused of terrorism. Yet he himself, like the rest of us, is burdened with the load of prejudice and stereotypes that result in terror and tragedy. At the film's press conference at Cannes, where Pitt was absent because of the impending arrival of daughter Shiloh, co-star Blanchett was asked what it was like working with him; "it was like chocolate, he is glorious and wonderful." On the set of Babel, Iñàrritu succeeded in perfectly orchestrating his many players, who spoke in many tongues, setting a shining example for a divided United Nations and a divided world. Always a master at weaving a richly vivid tapestry of dramatic characters, filled with pathos and desire, passion and despair, Iñàrritu is hailed by critics for doing it again. Oscar will surely be impressed with his plea for more human understanding of heart and soul, among peoples of different cultures, colours and creeds. Shame on those among us who do not stand for that! All the world is queer save thee and me, And even thou, art a little queer. Robert Owen (1771-1858)
