In the Biblical story of Babel, God confounded men by giving them different languages, which made them unable to communicate and therefore unable to build the tower that threatened God’s dominion. In “Babel,” the inability of men and women to communicate with one another has dark consequences. A couple, Richard and Susan (Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett) who have been unable to break through to each other about the SIDS death of their child, take a trip to Morocco that results in her near-death. A Japanese deaf-mute girl who can’t communicate her despair over her mother’s suicide reaches out in acts of sexual desperation, believing that a world that refuses to respond to her language, may instead respond to her body. The breakdown in understanding between a Mexican driver and an American border guard nearly destroys the lives of two innocent children and their nanny. These and a dozen other, smaller communication failures propel the movie’s three interwoven stories, making for a dark tapestry of frustration and despair, that nevertheless moves toward a strangely peaceful, almost hopeful ending that is slightly reminiscent of last year’s “Crash.” Brad Pitt gives a genuine and belieavable performance, considering director Alejandro Inarritu puts his characters through a meat-grinder, much as he did in “21 Grams.” Four tiaras
