Cate Blanchett arrives for the in-competition screening of 'Babel' at Cannes.
Photo: Reuters/Eric Gaillard

Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett star in the powerful new film Babel, seen as one of the favorites for the coveted "Palme d'Or" prize.

In competition at the Cannes film festival, the movie by Mexican 21 Grams director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu is an examination of linguistic, cultural and personal barriers that sweeps across three continents and tackles terrorism, immigration and suicide.

Pitt and Blanchett portray a couple on holiday in Morocco when tragedy strikes, and their story is linked to that of two shepherd boys living in a remote village.

A third narrative takes the audience to the U.S.-Mexican border where a trusted nanny becomes embroiled in a terrifying journey of her own, and in Japan, a deaf and mute girl struggles to get over her mother's death and break down social prejudice.

Inarritu weaves the plots together into a rich cinematic tapestry, where established actors like Pitt, Blanchett, Mexico's Gael Garcia Bernal and Japan's Koji Yakusho appear alongside little known actors from northern Africa.

Misunderstanding and miscommunication appear on every level, between father and son, husband and wife, police and civilians and country to country.

For Inarritu, the main theme of the film was not language. Its title is taken from the Biblical story of people seeking to build a tower to God who are punished by being divided through language.

"For me that (language) is not the problem," he told a news conference. "Language can be very easy to break.

"For me the problem is the ideas and the preconceptions we have from one to another which really pull us apart. I want this film to be basically about not what separates us but what gets us together.

"We see the other always as a threat. Being different means being dangerous."

Abuse of power
While the film was mainly about barriers on a personal level, it sends clear messages about political problems including misunderstandings on the U.S.-Mexican border and those surrounding the issue of religious extremism.

"On the border what is happening is terrible, and the way they try to pretend everybody is a terrorist," Inarritu said of the United States.

The shooting incident involving the characters played by Pitt and Blanchett is immediately seized upon by the world's media as an attack by Islamic radicals, but the truth is far less sinister if not less tragic for the victim.

Blanchett praised co-star Pitt, who was not in Cannes due to the impending arrival of his child with Angelina Jolie.

An e-mail from him was read out to journalists before the briefing began.

"With the imminent arrival of the newest addition to our family, I am unable to join Alejandro, Cate, Gael and the rest of the cast and crew in introducing the film," he wrote, adding that he was "tremendously proud" of Babel.

Blanchett's words about working with Pitt were even warmer.

"In terms of working with Brad, it's like chocolate. He's glorious and wonderful and I really wanted to work with him for a long time."

For many of the actors, the press conference on Tuesday was the first time they had met.

Babel is one of three South American films among the 20 in competition in Cannes this year. The others are Pan's Labyrinth by Mexican director Guillermo del Toro and Cronica De Una Fuga by Uruguayan director Israel Adrian Caetano.