Therefore it was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
- Genesis 11:9
This last weekend Stephanie and I watched Babel, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. It is described as a movie that discusses the despair and hope of life, and it was nominated for several awards at the Oscars. Being a couple who love good movies of substance and thought, we decided we needed to see it. The title caught my eye as it conjured up in my mind the multiplicity of human languages. In that regard, it lived up to expectations. Using locals, it filmed in Morocco, Japan, and Mexico while it covered four different story lines. Each story line was in a different language. Japanese, Arabic, English, and Spanish streamed into our living room. It was a different, but wonderful touch.
Ironically, I quickly forgot I was listening to different languages as I read the subtitles. Soon, I was relating to two boys arguing over who could shoot a rifle further and straighter. Without hearing the Japanese, I was pulled into a young, deaf girl’s world as she struggled with the death of her mother. A Mexican mother burst with pride at her son’s wedding making us laugh and smile. I have always been amazed at how such different worlds contain such similar people.
Just as quickly, I was tormented by the extreme despair each storyline produced. A wife was shot, kids were lost, a girl sought love tragically, and two boys’ naively shot someone with their new hunting rifle. At one point, I turned to Stephanie and said, “I don’t like where this is going…It’s taking me too far down.” This movie brought despair. The film created that sinking feeling in your stomach that forces our mouths closed in the face of tragedy.
The storylines progressed and the movie ended; however, I wasn’t satisfied. That feeling of despair never left. Despite the beautiful sunshine outside, there was a resident darkness leftover in my mind. I couldn’t decide if I liked the movie or not, but I was leaning towards not. As the day went on, I kept replaying scenes of the movie in my head trying to figure out why. It was pretty graphic, but it was artistically done, which is acceptable for me. Sure there wasn’t a happy ending, but that usually doesn’t bother me, either. Why did I not like this movie!?!
In the middle of a conversation, it dawned on me: Hope. The movie was supposed to be about despair and hope, but it just sunk the audience into despair and left me there. Don’t get me wrong, the director tried to wrap up with hope, but it was so empty…so NOT hopeful. Innocence lost, death, fear. There are some human stories that end without hope and can’t be made pretty no matter what we do.
That was my issue. How could a story of hope be told without God? Our stories and our attempts at putting things together or making things right don’t always turn out hopeful. That is the essence of faith: God gives us hope when all else fails. God gives us the strength to recover our lives. God heals our wounds. God forgives our most heinous crimes. That pit welling in my stomach was an absence of God: It was fear and death. It was despair for the real world in which we live. It was the loneliness of being an individual. It was the alienation of being in a world where we don’t understand each other.
The story of faith is God calling out: “Fear not, for I am with you, and I will never leave you. You are not alone.” And, so, we have hope for we have God. By the way, I don’t recommend the movie.
