Babel Thoughts

When the lights went up in the theater after the movie "Babel" I wondered if the last 2 hours and 22 minutes had been well spent. I felt that the movie tried to make a statement, but that statement was allusive, not well thought out, poorly executed... it really bothered me. Movies tend to have a point or a lesson and this one didn't.

We discussed what that point was: consequences of choices, diversity in cultures. None of those explanations resonated with me.

Then, Saturday night, I awoke with a start. I had missed the most obvious clue to figuring out that movie. At once I felt awed and stupid for not noticing it previously.

The movie is called "Babel" duh. The movie is set in Morocco, Japan, U.S., Mexico, and consists of numerous incidents of mishaps due to communication and culture.

In Genesis, the people of Babel join together and build an enormous structure, known as the "tower of babel." This was their joint effort to reach the kingdom of heaven. God didn't like this idea, and destroyed the tower... creating multiple languages and cultures in the process.

So, essentially, I think the point of the movie is just to show us a representation of the various ways that communication and cultures clash. Simple.