Babel

I watched Babel just now. it's quite good, but as it is, it's a "thinking" movie. If you have watched Crash, it's a similar concept.

The show takes a dig at American politics and the big hula about terrorism. Not that we shouldn't be wary of terrorists but you see the bureacracy, the paranoia & of course, as I would like to contemplate, the egoism of the Americans. Well, why do they always think that people are after them (although it seems it's quite true...which is a different story)? Is it their ego? Is it their guilt? I don't have anything against Americans, but there are always black sheep and their culture (some). Of course, there are still good Americans, but I feel that's not the focus of the show.

When Cate Blanchett's character got shot, the American tourists travelling with her & Brad Pitt's character (her husband in the movie) were the 1st to jump to the conclusion that it was done by terrorists. It could have been an attempted robbery, a hunting accident, etc. They were paranoid or something. Of course, Brad Pitt's character was not that wonderful too. Understand the anxiety, but keeping the whole tour group stuck with him was rather inconsiderate too. Anyway, everything was all a misunderstanding. It was actually some shepherd boys testing out their new rifle (which was very reckless). But it blew up to be on international news as terrorism.

The way some of the tourists thought that the villagers were savages was terrible. In the end, ironically, these "simpler" folk were the most patient, understanding, sincere and truely human people in the whole affair.

All the politics going on in the "higher levels" shows how cold & inhumane the "up" people are. The urgency is to save the injured & up there they are bickering about if it was a terrorist attack? Can you imagine the American embassy actually stopped the ambulance due to political issues? And they wanted to send a helicopter but was not given airspace because the Moroccon govt didn't agree it was a terrorist attack? And people were dying? If it were a terrorist affair, I guess the whole bus would have blown up or something? Although it sounded valid, but what's the point if the person is already dying? Well, maybe one wouldn't think that much if one was caught like that, but we knew that it was actually a misunderstanding. Well, anyway, Brad's charcter was pissed off and he wasn't really bothered about if it was terrorism and politics. He just wanted to save his wife!
The scary thing is this could happen to anyone; this time though Cate's character survived, in real life, someone might have died already.

It's very sad that 1 of the shepherd boys died (who wasn't the one who shot Cate, but his brother). The police that were chasing them were also crazy at first, I guess with all pressure. However, eventually, it seems they finally realised that it was a misunderstanding but it was too late (while the Americans still thought it was terrorism). You could see the chief looking like he just woke up and thinking "what have we done" (with the dead boy).

Anyway, why is it called Babel? I know I should be able to find the answer somewhere, but I can't help relating it to the Tower of Babel in the Bible where GOD confused the language and dispersed people over the world. As you watch, you see all the different races or languages spoken - American English, Moroccon language, Mexican language, Japanese, sign language.
Is it something to do with the "confused language" that the misunderstanding arose, that they are so dispersed in cultures and perspectives? How the human race were so scattered? Or is it referring to the babbling of the politicians?

I think there are other issues to touch on from the show, but this is just my 1st feel/impression of the show.