FEATURE
CONNECTING DOTS
By Daniel Eilemberg

With the upcoming film Babel, Mexican Filmmaker Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu finalizes his trifecta of studies on human interaction.

Alejandro González Iñárritu is not just a director; he’s a filmmaker, an auteur in the traditional sense of the word. His three films to date, all collaborations with screenwriter and novelist Guillermo Arriaga, have been conceived and developed by the duo, sidestepping the lure of big studio productions, as a director-for-hire, that most successful directors in Hollywood follow.
Not that he is opposed to it. “Well, there is always an idea, a subject, that I want to tackle,” he says about his choice of films, adding, “fortunately, or unfortunately, I just haven’t had the time, or perhaps the luck, to find something that interests me more than what I am working on. If it does, of course, I’d be open to it.”
His latest endeavor, Babel, distributed by Paramount Vantage, the specialty distribution arm of Paramount Pictures, is indeed a studio film. But just like 21 Grams, its predecessor, it was developed by Iñárritu and Arriaga, based on their own ideas.
Babel, the third in a trilogy that began over six years ago with Amores Perros, followed by the 2003 sensation 21 Grams, borrows the fractured narrative style of its predecessors. And like them, it is an exploration of human relations, of cause and effect, and of the way in which our destiny is the random end result of circumstances beyond our control. “Life is a sum of accidents,” says González Iñárritu, sitting in a plush sofa, legs propped on a chair, at the offices of Paramount Vantage in New York­­ where we met to discuss his film. “It’s a series of extraordinary events that we’ve lost the ability to question,” he asserts, adding: “A Cuban friend of mine says: ‘If a second is enough to end our lives, then it is certainly enough to change it.’ I think there are events and actions that determine our lives, and that of others, even across the world.”
And it is precisely that philosophical conundrum that drives the story of
Babel. Here, four different families living in different corners of the world are linked to each other by a circumstantial event, the accidental shooting of an American tourist in the mountains of Morocco. Yet, while the protagonists may not share the same country or language, there is a deep association between them: They are, in their own way, isolated––culturally, linguistically and physically. In the end, like in his previous films, family becomes the redeemer.
Starring Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and Gael García Bernal, as well as an exceptionally talented group of non-actors, Babel tackles issues of immigration, terrorism and international barriers, yet it finds its footing in its human interaction. “Despite the political and social commentary, at its core, Babel is a film about parents and children, about four families and their inability to communicate,” he says.
In spite of its name, the movie has little, if any, religious content. He came up with the name two months before production began, he says, because it summed up what he was trying to convey: the difficulties of communicating.
The idea came from his experience as an immigrant. González Iñárritu left Mexico for Los Angeles to develop his second film, 21 Grams, arriving four days before 9/11. “As a citizen of the Third World, having come here with my family, I experienced a certain vulnerability being outside my comfort zone,” Iñárritu admits. He couldn’t help but question the source of that discomfort, brought upon by the cultural differences he experienced. It inspired him to talk about, and tackle in his film, the barriers that exist beyond national borders, among humans, in our psyche.
González Iñárritu, who started his career as a radio host in his native Mexico City, taught himself the craft of directing and today can boast becoming one of the most sought-after, unique and original directors in Hollywood. As to what his next project is, that is yet undecided, but it will no doubt carry his unique style, and a give us another glimpse into his brilliant mind. As he explains, “My pictures are very personal; they are an extension of myself.”

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