— Babel has demonstrated multiple narrative and story arcs, multiplicity are nothing new to most audiences and it was interesting to see that the writers of the movie have been able succeed with the use of multiplicity, multiple protagonist and narratives, while maintaining some of the character and action emphasis which prevent this from being too ‘different’. The movie has been effective in interconnecting the plotlines with an overarching plot which connects them all together. In the process, it has also explored thematic unity, which compares or contrast the conflicts of each individual characters and their separate plotlines.
— Time in a film is but a significant one. Aside from it being the basis and recognition of the film’s plot time (when it happened), it is also one of the factors that affects the events causes and effects. In Babel, time has something to do with the movie’s plot and story. Take the scene of Santiago having encountered the checkpoint upon taking Amelia and the kids home for an instance. First, the scene took place on a late night which would automatically resonate to the event. And who would ever forget what happened in Morocco. The scene where the American couple encountered fear and isolation. It was clearly portrayed in the film that it took place on one sunny afternoon in Morocco which causes some of the nitizens in the bus to demand that they would take the bus home because some of them were already suffering from heat stroke, due to of course the time they were in that particular area plus it was a desert. Amelia on the other hand have been wandering around the desert looking for help within five days.
[last lines in the film that can be associated with time]
"Japanese newscaster: Susan Jones, who was wounded in a terrorist attack in Morocco, was discharged from a Casablanca hospital this morning, local time. The American people finally have a happy ending, after five days of frantic phone calls and hand wringing. In other news..."
— Viewers seeks to connect events through causal motivation. In the movie Babel, causal motivation was presented in the film through its characters and the plot as well. The plot being drawn in the film has led the viewers to infer causes and effects.. how the involvement of an American couple in Morocco sparks a chain of events for four families in different countries throughout the world. In the struggle to overcome isolation, fear, and displacement, each character discovers that it is family that ultimately provides solace. In the remote sands of the Moroccan desert, a rifle shot rings out — detonating a chain of events that will link an American tourist couple’s frantic struggle to survive, two Moroccan boys involved in an accidental crime, a nanny illegally crossing into Mexico with two American children and a Japanese teen rebel whose father is sought by the police in Tokyo. Its multi narration has withhold and unfold causes then depicting effects afterwards, prompting the viewer’s suspense, uncertainty, and arousal of curiousity leaving them glued to their seats.