Printer-friendly version

Send to a friend

You might also be interested in

• IN CASE YOU MISSED IT.
• She blinded me with science
• So you want to be a movie snob?
• As we lick it
• The First Week Home

This Issue 11/02/2006

Also in this issue

• State of Panic in the attic
• It's the end of the world as we know it
• Meow mix
• Street Beats
• Habana nights
• Halloween

At the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, Mexican director Alejandro González I¤árritu (Amores Perros, 21 Grams) won the Best Director Award for his most recent film Babel. Often going against Hollywood conventions, I¤árritu's films are always out of sequential order and nearly every shot uses a handheld camera. Recently, I¤árritu spoke to Street in a roundtable discussion to talk more about Babel and his career.

You have been described as a self-taught filmmaker. Could you describe your learning process?

I¤árritu: I think film is an art of life. It's not a job. It's a whole attitude about life, and for me the tools first of all are life. My first film I did at 35, but I came from the radio. I started in radio hosting a three-hour show that was eclectic, playing the music I wanted. That gave me a lot of skills to entertain people with the imagination of radio, which is a fantastic thing. Then I went into advertising and I began to direct, write and edit 30-second and one-minute pieces, shooting 150 days a year, making a lot of mistakes. Then I studied two years of theater very seriously. I crossed the Atlantic two times working as a sailor on a cargo ship for two years... The sum of all those things gives me the opportunity to be doing what I'm doing. I don't believe in scientific cinema like something you can learn in a classroom. I think the classroom can shape skills, but if you don't have anything to say then you will just be an artisan.

Babel has multiple plotlines. Do you see one as being the central story or do you view each with equal weight?

AGI: I tried to make every story as important as the other ones. It's very United Nations. Nothing is more important than the film itself. There are no principal characters. It's not a film about poor Mexicans or powerful Americans or weirdo Japanese. I try to give the same weight to each character. No matter if they are poor, rich or whatever. I tried to maintain the humanity of the central theme.

Do you think casting Brad Pitt or Cate Blanchett causes the audience to see them as the main characters?

AGI: Maybe in a conventional perception yes, but I like the fact that people are surprised that Brad Pitt or Cate or Gael Garcia are not [central]. I like going against what you expect.

Many of the performers in Babel have no prior acting experience. Did you have any difficulty in working with non-professional actors?

AGI: It was a very challenging thing. It was the first time I did it. I did it because I didn't find what I wanted in the Moroccan actors. I decided 17 days before we started shooting that I had to find all the characters. It was really challenging - really, really challenging to find all the people in the streets, but it was one of the most rewarding experiences that I've had. To direct non-actors in a language you don't speak is something I wouldn't recommend. Unless you have suicidal thoughts, you should never do it.