Full Review

What, if anything, do the three disparate stories -- set, respectively, in Morocco, the United States (and then Mexico), and Tokyo -- have to do with each other, you may find yourself wondering at the start of the quietly powerful "Babel" (Paramount Vantage).

The plot strands are very much interconnected as the narrative skillfully develops, but part of the film's pleasure is the way it all unfolds, so we won't spoil it.

Suffice it to say, there's an American couple, Richard (Brad Pitt) and Susan (Cate Blanchett), who find themselves stranded in Morocco when the wife is seriously wounded by a stray bullet on their tour bus. The shot was innocently fired by one of two young Moroccan boys testing a new rifle (bought by their goatherd father merely to ward off jackals). Before long, the wounding of an American tourist becomes an international incident as the U.S. government assumes terrorism.

In truth, the native people are treating Richard and Susan with the utmost kindness. We also get to know the herder and his family, and react with horror when they are caught up in the tragic incidents that follow.

Then there's Tokyo widower father Yasujiro's (Koji Yakusho) deaf-mute teenage daughter, Chieko (Rinko Kikuchi), who achingly longs for love. She misses her mother terribly, and fails to see that her businessman father wants to connect with her. Chieko acts out her desperate loneliness with sophomoric pranks (exposing herself to some teenage boys who recoiled from her when they realized her handicap), and, most poignantly, offers herself sexually to an empathetic detective who comes looking for her father.

And, finally, there's Amelia (Adriana Barraza), a Mexican governess who needs to attend a family wedding back home, and when she can't find a sitter for her two American charges (whose parents are away), decides to bring them to the wedding, driven by her hotheaded nephew, Santiago (Gael Garcia Bernal) -- a bad move, as it will transpire.

Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's somber and lengthy film -- from a script by Guillermo Arriaga -- imparts an admirable message about our shared global humanity and the senselessness of violence. Government bureaucracy, especially on the U.S. side, comes in for some bad knocks. Along the way, the film makes a powerful case for a more compassionate view of undocumented workers.

The film's international cast gives extraordinary performances across the board. Pitt is outstanding as the husband frantic to get aid for his injured wife, and he and Blanchett share one of the screen's most tenderly romantic moments in the most unromantic of circumstances. Kikuchi and Barraza will break your heart.

The film is leisurely paced and resolutely noncommercial, but if you stick with it and can look past some provocative elements, you may find yourself both devastated and uplifted. Partially subtitled.

The film contains some rough language and profanity, crude expressions, some violence including a killing, full female nudity, some discreet sexual elements, and alcohol and drug use. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

Movies have been evaluated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop's Office for Film and Broadcasting according to artistic merit and moral suitability. The reviews include the USCCB rating, the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief synopsis of the movie.

The classifications are as follows:

• A-I -- general patronage;
• A-II -- adults and adolescents;
• A-III -- adults;
• A-IV**
• L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
• O -- morally offensive.