By Josh Horowitz Nowadays, when a moviegoer thinks of trilogies, he or she would be forgiven if the first images that came to mind were of pirates and Keanu Reeves in dark sunglasses. But what Mexican-born filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu has created (in tandem with screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga) in his first three films is, indeed, a trilogy of similarly epic proportions. With Amores perros, 21 Grams and, now, Babel, Iñárritu has helmed a complex series of interlocking stories of loss, love and broken families. Babel, as can be inferred from the title, is a tale of what happens when communication fails at every level. With an international cast including Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett (as tourists who suffer a seemingly random act of violence), the film represents Iñárritu's most ambitious effort yet, spanning the globe from the U.S./Mexico border to Morocco and Japan. Moving Pictures Magazine: And so the trilogy is complete. Once again you seem to place the moviegoer in the shoes of a wide array of characters.
Alejandro González Inárritu: Since Amores perros, I have tried to explore different realities in different social classes. One of the advantages of this kind of style of parallel stories is that you can explore different levels and arrive at the same conclusion: that, at the bottom line, we are human beings, and it doesn't matter where you are or which God you believe in or which country you live in. MPM: That's one of the ironies of Babel - that you literally go from one end of the earth to the other, but in the end find that we all share the same things.
Alejandro González Inárritu: It's funny, because I started doing this film about human differences and I ended up finding that I'd made a film about what brings us together as human beings. What is paradoxically funny about this film is that you are seeing a film about miscommunication but the audience seems to communicate very strongly with the characters. MPM: This film, like your others, puts an audience member through a lot. I would imagine that the same could be said for you in the course of making a film like Babel?
Alejandro González Inárritu: Of the films that I have done, it is the most obviously transformative experience for me. We worked, basically, one year around the world. An experience like that - where you're exposed to so much humanity, so many realities and cultures - it changes your perspective, your point of view, your prejudice, yourself. In the end, a film is an extension of yourself, and, in this case, the film is a testament to what I lived in the last year. It's an X-ray of what happened to me. MPM: What was the initial idea for Babel?
Alejandro González Inárritu: It was an idea that I had when I came here to live in the United States. I had a concept to make a film that took place in five different countries and five different languages. I was full of these ideas in my heart and in my brain about what is happening in the world: how we have been transforming the reality of people that live very far away and how these people can be affected by a decision that is made by a guy in New York, for instance. One decision can end up being a tragedy in the life of poor community 10,000 miles away. The reason I call this a trilogy is that they are all stories of parents and sons. So I also wanted to tell this story on an intimate scale. Social and political themes are implicit in it, but what the real film is about is parents and sons. MPM: When did you move to Los Angeles?
Alejandro González Inárritu: Right before September 11, unfortunately. So I arrived when this country was one country, and now I'm living in another country, I think. MPM: What do you mean?
Alejandro González Inárritu: I have been feeling that, unfortunately, this government hasn't been very helpful to making a peaceful and beautiful world. I grew up in a country with a party, the PRI, which stayed for 70 years; and they were really radical and there was not freedom of expression. Funnily enough, living here has reminded me of living of Mexico in the '70s, when this kind of suppression and this kind of regime took anything that you think against them as an unpatriotic thing. And that's really scary: when people are afraid to express themselves. MPM: Do you feel a burden as a filmmaker to confront issues like this and issues of morality in your work?
Alejandro González Inárritu: For me, Babel was not a job. I started doing this film without financing. In the beginning, it was a crazy idea of making a film in five different languages. For me, it was a thing I needed to exorcise for myself. I think, when you believe in something and you need to talk about something, that's a moral and personal thing. Morality for me, the bad or good depends on the eye of God. And ethics for me is what is good or is bad in the eyes of society. I think, as a director, as an artist, you have a responsibility. At the bottom line, I think that every director will, in one way or another, confront a moral decision or a moral question in his work. MPM: This trilogy has been filled with senseless violence. Why are you attracted to depicting such tragic events?
Alejandro González Inárritu: I hope that the violence in my films is not frivolous. It's not for entertainment. In TV news, the way they use violence to sell and to entertain is really insulting to me. It's like, "Stay tuned because we'll have the football results, Naomi Watts in her latest picture, and then the war!" There is no border or respect between the human tragedy and entertainment. That's why I never watch TV. I can't stand five minutes of it. It's the same that I can't stand films that have violence that is used to entertain. I try, in my films, to show that violence is a reality of ourselves. We can't deny it. We will be violent and we will be killers. We were born like that. Primitive men were hunters. It is in our nature. But what I want to explore in my films is that violence is a decision you make, and every time you make that decision, that act of violence will have consequences. MPM: With the completion of Babel, does it feel like you've completed a cycle of films?
Alejandro González Inárritu: Yeah. This is the last story I will make in this kind of way, I think. I think three is enough. MPM: You've said before that your dream is to make one great film in your life. Are you getting closer?
Alejandro González Inárritu: No. [Laughs] I don't think I will ever succeed, but I don't have any choice. I have to try. I think that's something that every filmmaker will have to confront: that frustration of realizing that you will never have one of those films. MPM: Does directing a purely escapist film interest you on any level?
Alejandro González Inárritu: I really like to see them, and I like to see bad films. Bad films inspire me a lot. Bad films inspire me more than good films because they make me think I'm not as stupid as I think. When you see a great film, that depresses you. I enjoy seeing those escapist films when I can, but I don't think I'll ever be able to do one because I suffer when I'm shooting. I'm not enjoying the process. I'm not the guy that arrives to the set laughing, having a great time. I never trust that experience. It's a painful process. It's really demanding. It's emotionally and physically exhausting. And, for me, it's not like I'm going to work from nine to five and then I'm going to return to have dinner with the kids. No, I'm kicking my ass! I sleep only four hours. I'm traveling, doing the ... films in territories that are really hot. It's not comfortable. To invest two years of my life dealing with so many problems to do an escapist thing? No. I'd prefer to do a show myself and dance. That will be easier; and they will be more entertained by that, anyway. |
