Babel, etc.
We just finished watching Babel and I didn't really get it. It's a couple of loosely connected stories of which the general moral seems to be "shit happens". In the first storyline, a couple of impoverished Moroccan kids are trying out a rifle their dad just bought them. Not believing it was very powerful, they shoot down off a hill at a road where a bus is driving. Of course, they accidentally hit someone. That someone is Susan (Cate Blanchette) who is on vacation with her husband Richard (Pitt). This begins the 2nd storyline where Richard tries desperately to get his near-to-death wife out of the heart of Morocco so she can get medical attention.
Meanwhile, back home, their two kids go on an adventure with their maid who is an illegal Mexican immigrant who has the wherewithal to take both (very obviously white) kids over the border so she can attend her son's wedding. Of course, coming back over the border proves to be problematic and they end up fleeing into the desert where they become lost and face death.
Finally - on the other side of the globe, a young Japanese deaf girl struggles with her blossoming womanhood as she tries (and tries and tries) to get herself laid. For some reason (I'm gonna chalk it up to cultural differences) every guy she throws her tight young body at scorns her. And she really tries. At one point she takes off her underwear to flash her goods to a guy she likes across the room. That doesn't quite do the trick. Shortly thereafter, she tries her luck with... wait for it... the dentist. She licks him a few times, grabs his hand and shoves it in her (still underwearless) crotch. He's not having anything to do with it and kicks her out. Finally, she remembers that a cute older detective guy had been asking about her father earlier and she decides to call him up and pretend to have something to tell him. When he gets there, she excuses herself only to reappear completely naked. At this point, I'm really rooting for her but alas - the cop turns her away and tells her she's just a girl. He does get a good feel in before he quits off completely though. Kudoes (What! Rinko Kikuchi is pretty damn hot!)
Then - get this - it turns out that this poor, desperate Japanese teen's father had been the one who gave the gun to a Moroccan hunting guide when he was on his last hunting trip. The same gun that made its way into the Moroccan kid's hands and shot Cate Blanchette. Deep. I won't give the endings to each story away but it wouldn't really matter much if I did. The ending wasn't really a wrap-up or a climax. Instead, the story just sort of stops and you're left holding the bag.
Also, I'd like for someone to explain to me (even in hypothesis) why it's called "Babel". I don't get that either. I mean, strictly speaking, the story of the Tower of Babel was about a unified humanity being smote by God and given different languages so we couldn't work together anymore and therefore wouldn't be able to threaten him by unifying. (Good call there G, that's really working out in the long run. Moron.) I guess in two of the stories, communication acts as a direct barrier - the Japanese girl is deaf and Pitt's character is trapped in the middle of Morocco and can't speak any of the local languages. But that's only two of the stories. Perhaps thematically, the concept is "lack of communication" in general, but that seems like a bit of a stretch. So if anyone else has any ideas - please do tell.
We also managed to catch up on Lost and BSG. This is what I love about lazy Sundays.