<Articles>Babel is Us: Self, Grief and Surrender in a Film of A. G. Iñárritu

Abstract

In this paper I suggest the possibility of an analogy between the experience of grief and that of communication based on the common element of surrender. I propose an interpretation of the film Babel, by Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu, according to which the film provides four examples of how surrender and reciprocal trust is crucial to survival. I focus on the sense of disconnectedness that affects some of Iñárritu's characters and explore how they are able to resolve it through the encounter with others. In the end, I reflect on the paradoxes that are at the heart of the film and how they are a feature of human life itself, what makes people feel closer beyond the borders of language and nationalities.