"Babel"

I really could not appreciate this movie when I was watching it. As a friend quite sharply noted, the story fundamentally revolves around the children of the different characters, whose lives intertwine in some way though they are originally from different countries (and so different cultures) - Japan, Egypt, America and Mexico. At the point of watching it, the storyline did not appear to have a meaningful purpose and characters did not really have a chance to develop and I was left feeling somewhat empty and disturbed by the story and imagery. The acting itself though was convincing particularly in the way the emotions of the characters was displayed and I can now see how the movie presents situations and human issues that are very real in the world.

I mentioned to someone the morning after that I would not recommend viewing it but perhaps, now thinking back, the movie was created for us to recognise that often our seemingly small actions carried out thoughtlessly and our good intentions have vastly critical consequences, even to the point of life and death - A boy lost his brother; a mother her right to live freely in a country she had grown to love, having been there for more than a decade, after being ripped from the children she had raised as her very own. However, in so doing, it serves to make us aware that one person can make an impact on other nations and with this we need to be so careful as to how we choose to appropriate this opportunity.

There are situations out there we may never have control over yet there are many things that we can control that may cause those situations to never happen or to take place differently. Many have meaningless lives and crave for security, love and intimacy as the girl in the movie who was hearing and speech impaired...in their painful desperation they degrade and defile themselves and are left wanting and depraved. If we know that there is so much more to life because we have found the One who has given us life and life to the full, what will we do with this knowledge? Will we let them know that what they have experienced (be it good or bad) or the lives they have made for themselves is not as good as it gets?