"Babel" will win the Palm D'Or

"Babel," by Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu, is the best movie I've seen at Cannes so far. In fact, it's so good that I predict it will win the festival's top prize, the Palm D'Or, or Golden Palm.

The Tower of Babel "was a tower built by a united humanity to reach the heavens. Because man had it in his heart to be like God, God stopped this project by confusing their languages so that each spoke a different language. As a result, they could no longer communicate with one another and the work was halted. The builders were then scattered to different parts of Earth. This story is used to explain the existence of many different languages and races," according to Wikipedia.org.

MIñárritu, director of "Amores Perros" and "21 Grams," gave the film its title because it weaves four different story lines in four different languages from four different countries -- Tunisa, Morroco, Mexico and Japan. Eventually, the audience discovers that each story is connected in some way.

Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett lend their starpower in the Morocco storyline, where they play American tourists. But despite their notoriety, all the actors and actresses are good.

I'm not going to give away the story, because it ruins the film -- but the style, acting, editing and directing are top notch. It's sort of like "Amores Perros," if you've seen that.

3.5 stars
***
Wayne's star system
1 star --> avoid at all costs
2 stars --> watch on TV when nothing else is on
3 stars --> rent it eventually
4 stars --> must see before you die