Brad Pitt in Uniform

Worlds AwayAs Hollywood starts getting heavy again, the intense, globe-trotting ‘Babel’ tries making art out of tears and fears.By Lorraine AliNewsweekSept. 4, 2006 issue - It’s three in the morning and thick clouds of dust roll across the rural Mexican dirt road like New England fog. Nearby, strings of bare-bulbed lights illuminate an outdoor fiesta where dozens of Tecate locals in cowboy boots and chunky heels dance to the rowdy ranchero band Los Incomparables. But not everyone’s having fun. A cameraman on the perimeter of the set has had it with all the errant chickens underfoot. "Get the f— out of here!" he orders, but this chicken doesn’t speak English. "¡Silencio, por favor!" yells a stage manager from the other side of the clapboard fence, and the bird stops in its tracks. Communication breakdowns and cultural rifts drive Alejandro González Iñárritu’s "Babel," a film that spans three continents, seven languages and many leagues’ worth of buried emotion. It’s his latest in a trilogy that includes "Amores Perros" and "21 Grams," but this time, the Mexican director’s overlapping stories have gone global. Two Moroccan brothers testing their dad’s rifle accidentally shoot an American tourist named Susan (Cate Blanchett), and in an instant dozens of lives are intertwined. Susan and her husband, Richard (Brad Pitt), are forced to rely on rural villagers—and each other—as she fights for her life. The Arab boys’ humble family pays the price when the shooting is interpreted as a terrorist incident with international implications.Meanwhile, the American couple’s children are supposedly safe at home in California, except that their Mexican nanny, Amelia (Adriana Barraza), has taken them to Baja for her son’s wedding, where she runs into trouble at the border, thanks to her smart-mouthed nephew Santiago (Gael García Bernal), who’s chauffeuring her around. In Tokyo, the deaf-mute teen Chieko (Rinko Kikuchi) and her father, a businessman who once gave his rifle away to a local on a Moroccan hunting trip, are perilously drifting apart after her mother’s suicide. "I kept saying to myself, ‘If this doesn’t work, it will be one of the most horrible disasters in film history’," says Iñárritu. "It’s four short stories that have nothing to do with each other. There’s no one apparent connection, so it all could look like a National Geographic special on global cultures." Iñárritu has been resting easier since "Babel" won best director at Cannes this past May. The film, written by Guillermo Arriaga, is compelling, intense and emotionally draining, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. "By the end there’s a moment similar to ‘The Pianist’," says Blanchett. "The whole vision of that film had been in small rooms and internal spaces, and suddenly, he climbed over the wall and saw the shattered remnants of Berlin, and you were taken to this epic place. I think what Alejandro has done is supremely masterful. What could have been a mission statement is really very subtle and sophisticated in an almost subterranean way."Most of the folks in "Babel" are not actors but locals from the areas where the film was shot ("Alejandro always picks the best places: dusty, difficult and beautiful," says Bernal, a longtime friend). In Japan, Iñárritu found many of the girls at a school for the deaf. In Morocco, he had muezzins make announcements from the minarets of mosques ("Want to be in a movie?") and in Mexico, his casting agent scoured weddings and marketplaces. They found Alfredo Macias, 19, in a local club. He plays the groom. "My character is explosive, unpredictable," says Macias. "He loves women and getting into fights. He’s just like me." Claudia Sylvia Mendoza, who plays the groom’s grandma, was spotted at an Ensenada market. "I’ve always admired great actresses in soap operas," she says. "Sometimes they play my own life. I watch and imagine which one I could be." Real people with unbleached teeth certainly make for more authentic characters, but it wasn’t always easy working with novices. On the set in Tecate, Iñárritu spent two hours and most of his patience trying to get one of his drunk nonactors to simply stay within the camera’s frame. During a wrenching scene in Morocco, Blanchett’s character is fighting for her life, but the villager tapped to play her caregiver kept smiling at the camera. "It was very dispiriting to see Cate giving me take after take with all her heart, killing herself," says Iñárritu. "I think we finally got it on take number 32." Pitt, Blanchett and Bernal had of course read the script, but it was almost impossible to pull back and see the big picture that the director was attempting to draw: all the plotlines seemed so disconnected. "I thought, ‘I’m sure it will be great whatever it is’," says Bernal, whose first film was "Amores Perros." "But it’s like walking in blindfolded. Only Alejandro really knows the big spectrum. I’m just a humble servant working here. I know what my one function is; it’s very specific." He smiles. "I’m just the chauffeur in the Brad Pitt movie." Sure. And "Babel" is just a little local movie—that conjures up the world.http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14533210/site/newsweek/page/2/

New Pics alert: Brad and Angie at Burbank airport. Hope JJ can put them up. Thanks!http://photo.wenn.com/index.php?ref=pitt%20jolie%20270806&version=int&session_id=8e0d204ab8125d4b11137742dbf45a2f

# 206 | fionaGee, thanks fiona. Was he touching her in the first pic?

# 210 | fiona—————-Thanks again fiona.

# 214 | angelah———————-Many thanks Angelah! I owe you one.

214-AngelahThank you very much.There must be a happy talk between them . AJ has a big smile… morning after a wild night in bed.? Perhaps they’re talking about how theytricked the paps … Oh well, thanx for the one who took this smiling pix of AJ….

#174 GuliI agree with you about women equality. Many other countried, including Pakistan, Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, etc have female leaders. And even Sri Lanka had women voting before the U.S. did! Women in the U.S. strike me as sappy quite a bit. They are very concerned with finding a man, but then say they are equal, but they sure want that man to take care of them. They resent a female boss, and a woman who defies the norm. As a woman who has not rushed to get married, I’m often criticized, even by FRIENDS, who take my not going along like a sheep and putting my man first and popping out kids as a criticism of THEM. They can do what they want, why can’t I? Women here are NOT equal to men — they still are very old=fashioned, and constrained by Victorian attitudes that make them do the bulk of the housework, the child-rearing, and running social activities, and so are worn out and crabby if they also have a career trying to juggle it all, while the men sit back and complain about their wives not wanting sex anymore and say they are "helping" with child-rearing and the house because they put in about 10 hours a week to a woman’s 20. When women value themselves, THEN they will be equal, but right now, in America, they still look at men as a means to an end and a woman who is friends with men is vilified — like Angie. A successful woman — like Hillary — is vilified for having ambiton and strength and being serious and not sappy and fluffy. Unthreatening average intelligence is lauded — which is why Paris Hilton has celebrity and Jessica Simpson is more known for her boobs and hair than for her singing. Condileeza Rice — a "yes man" with no original thoughts is more acceptable than a woman like Elizabeth Dole, who could actually lead and solve problems while heading the Red Cross, among her many accomplishments. The women who fought for the right to vote were treated abominably in their time, too, and until recently, it was understood that a woman voted as her husband or father wanted her to.Guli, you are right about American women. Women need to step up and be supportive of other strong women, instead of attacking them, and think for themselves to make true independence and equality a reality.

216= remember da truth I love the line"BRAD had checked out before he actually left. Its kaput, done , chiao bambina….This same topic keeps on popping up and I don’t know when it will stop. THanks to smart posters like you, the rebuttals ,mostly factuals are what makes AJ/BP threads enjoyable to read.

#174-GULIThankS for giving us a little bit of Turkey’s women’s achievement in politics. For a small muslim country to put a woman in power showed the intelligence and the rationale of the voting mass. In some muslim countries notably Afghanistan , women have very few rights. Schools for girls are taboo esp. in TAliban controlled areas.Very sad….BTW- hope everything is going well with KOREY.

# 219 | remember da truth | ITA Yehh, you know . I know but all these years I can not even get my friends to see the FACTS!!! Heck I even have friends who completely agree but go and vote the other direction cause their husband is a lobbiest for them etc… I am sick of it but this isn’t a place to talk about it. I don’t even know how I got my chain yanked (oddly enough a pro BAMZS) to speak my mind. Now if Cindy2 was around, we used to go off line and debate , darn it CINDY2 I miss you, WE miss you, why do we have to wait till september !!!!remember da truth , the bottom line is like you said strong , capable women deep down are resented by most females, hence the hatred towards AJ and the love for poor old X…. Sorry, I can go on and on re this topic but won’t change anything. Even ******* Oprah is a coward and loves to hub-**** with the Hwood crowd and have pitty parties for the X and throw a couple of million to build a school in Africa, Hey Ms. Oprah how long have you ever spent there and since you don’t want to, well at this point CAN NOT have kids WHY not adopt some instead of your frigging DOGS, Oh now I know that is why you love the X so much you both love dogs, what about kids ehhh!!! so O and the others love to talk but not walk with threir words. I haven’t watched her show for over a year and I used to like her. Well Ms. O you make my skin crawl you and your buddy Gail thinking that you are some high old mighty thing … Well I’ll take Angelina Jolie over you anyday, at least she is honest and she walks the talk……..

216 | remember da truth ****Great postAs Brad said to Diane Sawyer "Love changes shape"Thanks for the links to th pics.

# 187 | Amy | But the rest of us mature people with serious minds and deep hearts, don’t look at them as celebs. We look at them as real people. That’s why some of us don’t get and can’t accept how Brad broke up with Jen and just went off having a baby with Angelina of all people.Amy, as serious and mature people, you should know that none of us know why Brad and Jen’s marriage broke up. They said it wasnt because of not wanting children. I believe that. They said it wasn’t because of Angelina. I believe that. he said he didn’t cheat and she said she believed he didn’t cheat and her BF Courtney Cox believed he didn’t cheat. I believe them. As mature, serious, deep thinkers, I believe in not judging anyone negatively until I have all the facts from both sides of the equation. On the facts TOLD to me by all parties involved in the triangle (and also BF Courtney Cox), it seems irreconciliable differences is sufficiently accurate and both parties are equally at fault. Both parties agree there is no hope in salvaging the marriage. In which case, why is it wrong for Brad to have a baby and adopt Angelina’s children? Just is it is not wrong for Jennifer to hook up, if she did, with Vince.