Where to watch Babel (2006)
Babel is available to stream in GB on YouTube. It can also be rented or bought from AppleTV and Amazon.
A tragedy involving a married couple in Morocco sets four interconnected family stories in motion across different countries. As the consequences spread, people face danger, grief, cultural barriers, and difficult choices that test their relationships and ability to understand one another.
Cast: Brad Pitt, Rinko Kikuchi, Adriana Barraza, Cate Blanchett, Satoshi Nikaido, Said Tarchani, Boubker Ait El Caid, Gael García Bernal, Nathan Gamble, Elle Fanning, Mohamed Akhzam, Yuko Murata
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Trivia & production notes
- In early drafts of Babel, the Japanese deaf character was originally a Spanish girl who had recently gone blind, and the central couple's conflict stemmed from infidelity rather than a child's death.
- Director Alejandro González Iñárritu drew directly from his own life experiences for the film's locations, including a transformative trip to Morocco at age 17 and a previous visit to Japan where he resolved to return with a camera.
- Screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga originally conceived the story set in only two countries, and González Iñárritu requested the addition of two more locations, earning him an 'idea by' credit for that expansion.
- Rinko Kikuchi was cast as deaf character Chieko despite director Iñárritu's initial reluctance about her not being deaf, after a casting search spanning nine months and hundreds of actresses.
- Brad Pitt withdrew from acting in The Departed, which he also produced, to star in Babel instead.
- Most audience members in the Tokyo volleyball scene were actual deaf people rather than hearing actors.
- Principal photography took place from May 2, 2005 to December 1, 2005 across Japan, Morocco, Mexico, California, and Alberta, with multiple film stocks and formats used to give each location a distinct visual style.
- After Babel wrapped, director González Iñárritu and screenwriter Arriaga had a significant falling-out over authorship credit, leading Iñárritu to ban Arriaga from attending the film's 2006 Cannes screening.
- Gustavo Santaolalla composed the film's original score, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Score and the BAFTA Award for Best Film Music.
- When Babel was released in Japan in 2007, moviegoers experienced queasiness during a nightclub scene with intense strobe lights and flashing colors, prompting distributors to add a health warning.
Adapted from the Wikipedia article Babel (2006 film), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Rewritten for StreamShack; errors are ours — tell us about them.
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