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Paramount Pictures<\/p>\n
When\u00a0Alejandro Gonz\u00e1lez I\u00f1\u00e1rritu’s film “Babel” was released in 2006, beloved movie critic Roger Ebert \u2014 who passed away in 2013 \u2014 wrote a review praising the film, which uses interconnected and international stories to draw a larger narrative. So what did Ebert have to say about “Babel,” a film set in Morocco, the United States, Mexico, and Japan that features Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, and\u00a0Gael Garc\u00eda Bernal in pivotal roles?<\/p>\n
Ebert awarded the film a perfect score of four stars on his eponymous website<\/a> about the movie, which tells four distinct stories that seem unrelated until you realize that they’re all intricately linked. For example, the story involving Pitt and Blanchett’s characters finds them on vacation in Morocco after experiencing a tragedy, but the children they left at home in California with a nanny end up in trouble. Plus, Blanchett’s character, Susan, is grievously injured, leaving Pitt’s Richard to find a way to help her.<\/p>\n After mentioning two of I\u00f1\u00e1rritu’s two previous films \u2014 more on those in a second \u2014 Ebert concludes that this was the filmmaker at his best thus far. As he wrote:<\/p>\n “‘Babel’ finds I\u00f1\u00e1rritu in full command of his technique: The writing and editing moves between the stories with full logical and emotional clarity, and the film builds to a stunning impact because it does not hammer us with heroes and villains but asks us to empathize with all of its characters. They all have their reasons, they all work with only limited information, they all win our sympathy.”<\/p>\n “Babel” earned plenty of acclaim from other critics and the Academy Awards, even scoring nods for best picture and best director … but let’s go back to those other two films. Did you know “Babel” is actually the closing film of a trilogy?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Babel is actually part of a trilogy by director Alejandro Gonz\u00e1lez I\u00f1\u00e1rritu<\/p>\n
Paramount Pictures<\/p>\n Yes, that’s right: “Babel” is the final film in what’s known as the “Death trilogy,” created by\u00a0Alejandro Gonz\u00e1lez I\u00f1\u00e1rritu and screenwriter\u00a0Guillermo Arriaga. The first movie in said trilogy was released in 2000 and is titled “Amores perros,” and though “Babel” features multiple languages, you can probably gather, from the title of “Amores perros,” that it’s entirely told in Spanish. Like “Babel,” the movie is made up of vignettes that don’t immediately seem connected but ultimately converge due to a car crash in which every single character is involved. Whether the people in question are trying to find a missing, beloved dog, having illicit affairs, or unhoused denizens secretly working as assassins, “Amores perros” will keep you guessing about the character connections right up until the very end. (Also,\u00a0Gael Garc\u00eda Bernal plays a pivotal role in “Amores perros,” just as he does in “Babel.”)<\/p>\n The Death trilogy continued in 2003 with a movie that might be more familiar to most audiences than “Amores perros,”\u00a0titled “21 Grams” \u2014 which stars Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Benicio del Toro, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Melissa Leo. “21 Grams,” which earned Watts and del Toro Oscar nominations, is\u00a0yet another nonlinear tale that connects at the end, focusing on addiction, a hit-and-run accident, and karmic punishment. Both “Amores perros” and “21 Grams” are absolutely worth seeking out, especially if you want to experience this entire trilogy \u2014 though you should probably check trigger warnings, as these three films are\u00a0very dark. (You may have gathered that based on the name “Death trilogy,” though.) In terms of\u00a0I\u00f1\u00e1rritu’s career, though, the best was yet to come.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Alejandro Gonz\u00e1lez I\u00f1\u00e1rritu made some of the most acclaimed movies in recent memory<\/p>\n
20th Century Fox<\/p>\n In his review, Roger Ebert remarked that “Babel” was the strongest effort yet from\u00a0Alejandro Gonz\u00e1lez I\u00f1\u00e1rritu<\/a>, but sadly, Ebert passed away before he could experience the heights the Mexican-born filmmaker would experience. In 2014,\u00a0I\u00f1\u00e1rritu released “Birdman,” a fast-paced dark comedy that’s presented as if it’s filmed in one unbroken take and stars Michael Keaton, Emma Stone, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, and Naomi Watts, reuniting with the director after “21 Grams.”\u00a0Audiences are\u00a0probably more familiar with “Birdman” than “Babel,” considering that the film won best picture at the 87th Academy Awards in early 2015 and\u00a0also earned\u00a0I\u00f1\u00e1rritu his first trophy for best director. Plus, there’s the whole one-take jazz motif thing, which may or may not have inspired\u00a0an episode of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”<\/a><\/p>\n
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