Babel (2006)

BABEL

From the word itself, it means a scene of noise or confusion. How do you even connect four different stories in four different countries into one movie? I’ve known at first glance that this isn't just a movie with predictable plots and fairy tale endings; Babel’s all about connecting the dots. The construction of the multi-narratives was a stepping stone to make the viewers think like they’re philosophers or deep thinkers – it breaks the status quo on movies. This type of narrative enables you to heighten your curiosity level from first scene until the last. 

Time is a very precious element in the movie; Babel is centered on the unpredictability of events in 5 days when talking about plot duration; and what happened to the characters in the past several years or maybe a lifetime, story duration-wise. The interrupted sequence paved way to an almost confusing story. But as the film goes by, the turning point starts when it was shown that Yusijiro Wataya gave his gun to his Moroccan guide, Abdullah, during a hunting trip. Then it leads to  crucial events including Ahmed's shooting on Susan Jones (the American tourist), who's the mother of Debbie and Mike - the children being take cared of by Amelia. 

Causal motivation is another vital factor to the characters’ varied personas. In the case of Cheiko, the Japanese deaf-mute girl who’s sexually frustrated and peer pressured, her attitude was probably moulded due to her mother’s suicide. For Yussef, the younger Morrocan boy and brother of Ahmed, he had this incestuous desire towards his sister. He had that feeling maybe because he wasn't taught about morality. To sum up: causal motivation creates an inner voice, “Why is the character’s behavior like this?” or, “How did they come up with this personality?"

Overall, Guillermo Arriaga clearly defined the words "fate" and "destiny" very well