Cannes - Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's human globalization drama Babel was hailed as a masterpiece Tuesday at the 2006 Cannes International Film Festival, even as the film industry in his native Mexico is struggling for survival.
Australian actress Cate Blanchett (L) poses with Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu during a photo call for their film 'Babel', running in competition at the 59th Cannes Film Festival, Tuesday 23 May 2006 in Cannes. EPA/DANIEL DEME
The movie stars US megastar Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and a host of excellent actors from Japan, Morocco and Mexico.
Babel is a complex tale of interrelated stories galvanized by a boy firing a hunting rifle at a tour bus in the Moroccan hinterlands.
The bullet strikes American tourist Susan Jones, played by Blanchett, and sets off a series of events that will dramatically alter the lives of people in four countries.
Addressing journalists after his movie was screened, Inarritu said his film was about 'the borders we have within ourselves.'
'The problem is how we always see others, those different from us, as a threat,' he said. 'This is happening not only country against country, but also father against son, husband against wife.'
He added, however, that Babel was 'not about what keeps us apart, but what brings us together.'
Pitt was not able to accompany the film to Cannes because his partner, actress Angelina Jolie, was expecting a child. However, he sent a telegram that read, 'I am tremendously proud of Babel and want to congratulate everyone involved for this great achievement.'
A great deal of that achievement is due to the strong performances by its international cast, including Pitt, who was asked to show an emotional range and fragility unknown to his fans.
The performance of the film, however, belongs to young Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi, playing a deaf-mute teenager frustrated by her inability to communicate with the people around her.
It would be no surprise to see her walk off with the festival's best actress award.
In fact, Babel is a strong candidate for several prizes, including the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) for best film and the best director's award for Inarritu, whose career was launched after his first film, Love's a Bitch, was named best film in the Critics' Week competition at the 2000 Cannes festival.
Any award for the film would provide much needed publicity for the Mexican film industry, which is struggling to recover from the bleak mid-1990s, when the number of films produced in the country sank to a record low of nine a year.
Many observers attribute that to Mexico's joining the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which effectively opened the floodgates to competition from more popular American movies.
Last year, Mexico produced 53 movies, the highest number in 15 years. And, with Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth also selected to compete for the Palme d'Or, this year marks the first time two Mexican films have vied for the top prize at Cannes.
In addition, two other Mexican films, Drama/Mex by Gerardo Naranjo and Francisco Vargas's The Violin, are being screened in Cannes in less prestigious competitions.
All this could lead one to believe that the Mexican film industry was now booming.
'On the contrary, it's not what is happening,' Vargas told the publication Hollywood Reporter. 'You have two directors working outside of Mexico (Inarritu and del Toro) and two other unknown directors (Vargas and Naranjo) that were crazy enough to do a film. The industry is in bad shape.'
Vargas received financing for his film only after showing it at Cannes last year as a short, while Naranjo was able to secure vital funds for Drama/Mex only after it was selected for this year's festival.
In addition, of the 53 movies Mexico produced last year, only 24 had theatrical releases.
However, the situation may be about to change. The film trade publication Variety reported that the Mexican government has passed a tax incentive law for film makers that should attract more investment to the industry.
Monica Lozano, the head of the independent Mexican production company Altavista, said the incentive was already provoking activity in the industry.
'Everybody is drawing up project proposals,' she said. 'This will allow producers to diversify risk, and it will be a lot easier to speak of portfolios of investment.'
The law is similar to one approved in Brazil in the 1990s and credited for producing that country's cinema boom.
Currently, home-produced films account for only 3 to 5 per cent of Mexico's domestic box office, while in Brazil the incentive and quotas have pushed the local box office share to 20 per cent.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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