Confused by ‘Babel’
THE Japanese segment of the new movie “Babel” was by far the most troubling, confusing and disturbing part of it and contained some of the most controversial yet emotionally powerful movie scenes I have ever seen [“Fairy Tales for a Mean New World,” Nov. 19].
Did this underage teenage girl act in sexually obscene and inappropriate ways, particularly toward adult men, because she was rebelling against adult authority, or was it due to the way that she was discriminated against because she was deaf? Was it because her father failed to properly listen to her and try to understand her? Or maybe it was because of hormonal changes, teenage sexual angst or loneliness and lack of affection. It may have been because she thought her father killed her mother, or because she was molested by her father, possibly prompting her mother’s suicide.
Also, what did her note to the police detective say?
Why was she naked out on the balcony at the end, with her father not seeming to be shocked by it? And why was there confusion on how the mother really died?
KENNETH L. ZIMMERMAN
Huntington Beach
Only good movies
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