Director Alejandro González Iñárritu again interweaves the tales of multiple characters, but this time they happen to be in vastly different parts of the world.
The film begins in Morocco with Mohammed (Mustapha Amhita) buying a used rifle for his sons Ahmed (Said Tarchani) and Yussef (Boubker Ait El Caid) to kill jackals with. The fact that the younger Yussef is a better shot makes his brother angry, spurring him to convince his younger brother that the gun is defective. His idea to prove that the gun cannot fire three km is to have his little brother fire at vehicles on the road in the distance.
This leads to American tourist Susan (Cate Blanchett, THE AVIATOR) being shot in the neck. Her husband Richard (Brad Pitt, 12 MONKEYS) is in a panic to get help in a country where he doesn’t speak the language and the closest doctor could be hundreds of miles away.
Because of this tragedy, Richard pressures his Mexican nanny Amelia (Adriana Barraza, AMORES PERROS) to skip her son’s wedding in Mexico to take care of his young children Debbie (Elle Fanning, THE DOOR IN THE FLOOR) and Mike (Nathan Gamble, TV’s RUNAWAY). With no other options, Amelia decides to take the children with her to the wedding, which she is being driven to by her nephew Santiago (Gael Garcia Bernal, Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN).
Finally, in what seems like a completely unrelated tale taking place in Japan, the deaf and mute teen Chieko (Rinko Kikuchi, THE TASTE OF TEA), who can’t talk to her sad father Yasujiro (Koji Yakusho, MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA), begins to engage in increasingly riskier sexual behavior in a desperate attempt to connect to someone.
Each episode is a different meditation on communication and miscommunication. The two Muslim children cannot talk with their father. Richard and Susan’s relationship is on the rocks before the shooting. There is a culture clash between the illegal immigrant experiences of Amelia and the two white children, which leads to great problems as the story advances. Chieko is greatly frustrated, because she is looked upon as a “monster,” because she cannot communicate with her voice and she has trouble deciphering what others are trying to communicate to her.
All the actors bring great depth to their characters. However, the standouts have to be Barraza and Kikuchi. Barraza brings great humanity and passion to her performance, which is one of the most deep “Mexican maid” characters I’ve ever seen. Kikuchi has a difficult silent role where she has to convey to us through looks and movement the great depths of her sadness.
Writer Guillermo Arriaga (THE THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA) builds one episode upon the next with great precision for increasing the tension. He even skillfully weaves in humor and tenderness right when we need it to defuse the most dramatic tension. The only complaint I had was that some of the tales ended a bit too neatly and easily, robbing them of a last point of poignancy. However, this compelling and complex drama still delivers a smart film about our increasingly fractured world where it seems it’s more and more difficult to just talk and listen to each other every day.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
