Babel

Five languages, four stories, three continents, two discs, one amazing sound.

Babel is a globetrotting extravaganza from Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, the director of Amores Perros and 21 Grams, and like its predecessors is scored by the Argentinean composer Gustavo Santaolalla.

As the director observes, choosing the music for the movie could have resulted in a dramatized version of a travel programme to a theme of 'world music.' To this end he and his composer have avoided potential clichés by focusing on a strange fusion of Moroccan and Nortena music to create an aural landscape that is both atmospheric and spiritual. The cue titled Deportation, which seamlessly segues into Iguazu, is a case in point, opening with a yearning bluegrass guitar solo before incorporating the 'crackles and cries' of an oud.

The result is mesmerizing. Into this heady mélange Inarritu also introduces a number of eclectic remixes, at one point audaciously juxtaposing September from Earth, Wind & Fire with The Joker from FatBoy Slim.