These 150 minutes haven't been lost, that's for sure.
A film that is not produced by any of the hefty Hollywood companies, directed by the Mexican Alejandro González Iñárritu, and has only 2 well-known actors among the cast has proved to be more than worth watching.
The film takes place in 4 main places; Morocco, Mexico, Mexican-US borders and Japan, and it runs in 4 languages (Moroccan) Arabic, English, Spanish and Japanese. Despite all these different cultures, shapes and languages, you come to the conclusion that emotion is a universal language…you needn't understand what is said to know how they are feeling, and various touching scenes didn't have any words, just gestures, and facial expressions.
The plot evolves about 2 boy shepherds whose father has bought a new gun from a neighbour and gave it to his sons to scare jackals away from their goats. The boys argued whether the gun can reach 3kms as the man who sold it to them said. So they aimed the gun to the road and the first shot at a small car, and nothing happened. When it was the turn of the other boy, he aimed at a bus and boom! First nothing seemed to happen, but then the bust stops and screams are heard…one of the tourists got hurt. And just now the actions get started. The film tours the four fronts and gives some exquisite reflections.
The shot-in-the-neck American tourist has been taken to the tour guide's village because of the lack of any close hospital. Her husband calls his embassy to solve his problems. Here, the wounded woman lies in pain…and the guide's mother gives her something like cannabis to smoke to ease her pain and then sits at her head citing some qur'anic verses, so that God may ease her pain. Meanwhile, you see how American Government jumps announced that its citizens have been under a terrorist attacks!!
The Moroccan Police uses inhuman ways to reach the culprits.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the nanny of the injured tourist's little children, whose son's wedding was to be held the next day, receives a call from the husband telling her that they can't return home on time and she will have to postpone her son's wedding. The woman reaches a compromise; that she would take the kids with her to the wedding in Mexico. Then we move with them and enjoy watch a colourful wedding in a small Mexican town. But on the way back to the USA, at the borders, the woman and her nephew who was driving get harassed by the officers in charge with many silly and provoking inquiries, which drives the driver to escape in the dark. He then dropped his aunt and the two children in the middle of the desert to dodge the police cars. The next day the woman and the 2 children are found by American Patrols. The nanny was ordered to leave the country (after working there for 14 years).
Back in Morocco, the police follows the 2 escaping kids and their father and shoot one of the kids dead. A helicopter arrives at the small village to take the wounded to the capital, the husband offers some money to the tour guide who refuses it with a calm smile on his face…again, one excellent scene where no words were needed.
So what about Japan?
The gun that triggered the whole tragedy, belonged to a Japanese man who gave it to the Moroccan man as a thank you gift for being a good help to him while he was in Morocco, some time ago. This man has a deaf-mute daughter, who has emotional troubles, after seeing her mother shooting herself. We see she's engaged with her friends in taking drugs and going to disco where she feels completely alienated. This disco scene in particular is brilliant, where the camera show the girl's face and you hear the noise all around, and then we look through the girl's eyes, and here there's absolute silence.
One other great thing about the film is the music. Most of it was played by the lute which transmitted such a sense of inevitable fate to the events.
There are several ways each one can interpret the different messages given by this movie. And that's – in y opinion- what makes art one of humanity greatest achievements.
