Learn to Listen
The film depicts several characters living in Los Angeles, California during a 36 hour period and brings them together through car accidents, shootings, and carjackings. Most of the characters depicted in the film are racially prejudiced in some way and become involved in conflicts which force them to examine their own prejudices. Through these characters' interactions, the film attempts to depict and examine racial tension in the United States.
In a remote location in the desert, in southern Morocco, Hassan sells a Winchester rifle to Abdullah, who gives it to his two teenage boys, Yussef and Ahmed, (played by the local non-professional actors Boubker Ait El Caid and Said Tarchini) who look after their family's herd of goats, to kill jackals preying on the goats. To test it out, they aim from a hill at rocks and later a bus carrying Western tourists as it passes on a highway below. After missing a few times they hit the bus, injuring Susan (Cate Blanchett), an American woman who is travelling with her husband Richard (Brad Pitt) on vacation.
The police roughly question Hassan and beat him and his wife until they confess. Abdullah now has the rifle. Later, the two boys confess to their father what they have done. The three flee from the police taking the rifle with them. The police shoot at them, and Yussef shoots back after his brother is shot in his back and one of his legs. Yussef, who shot Susan earlier, eventually surrenders and confesses, and asks for medical treatment for his brother.
Richard and Susan were vacationing in Morocco to mend their own marital woes. It appears the sudden death of their infant son, suggested to be SIDS, has caused a strain on their marriage as they cannot communicate their frustration, guilt, and blame to each other. It is also implied that Richard left the family for awhile after the infant's death. Richard and Susan are on the bus shot at by Yussef and Ahmed. When Susan is hit the bus goes to the nearest village with a doctor. The bus waits some time, but the other passengers demand that it leave, because the heat is hard to bear, and because of the fear of more attacks. Since Susan cannot travel by bus in her condition, the couple stays behind, together with the bus's tour guide Anwar, to wait for transport to a hospital. Political issues between the US and Morocco prevent quick help, but at last a helicopter arrives. The simplicity of the ordeal, Richard caring for and protecting Susan with the fear of losing her, brings them together.
In parallel, we see a rebellious deaf-mute Japanese teenage girl, Chieko (Rinko Kikuchi), who is traumatized by the recent suicide of her mother and a sense that she is not seen by others which is especially exemplified by interactions with her father and boys her age. In response, she has started exhibiting sexually provocative behavior, such as wearing a short skirt and no underpants. She attempts unsuccessfully to initiate a sexual encounter with her dentist. She even goes so far as to try to seduce a police detective, Kenji (Satoshi Nikaido), who visits the house to question Chieko's father, Yasujiro (Kôji Yakusho), about his gun. It turns out Yasujiro is an avid hunter who once went hunting in Morocco and gave his rifle to his tour guide, Hassan.
We also see Richard and Susan's Mexican nanny, Amelia (Adriana Barraza), taking care of their two young children while the couple is stranded in Morocco. Because of the incident she is forced to take care of the children longer than anticipated. Unable to secure help to care for them, she takes them to her son's wedding in Mexico. Rather than stay the night in Mexico with the children, she decides to make the journey back with her nephew Santiago (Gael García Bernal) who throws caution to the wind and drives whilst intoxicated. At the United States border crossing, the vehicle arouses the suspicions of the border guards. Despite having passports, Amelia has no letter of consent from the children's parents allowing her to take them out of the United States, and they suspect that Santiago is intoxicated.
An initial search occurs and then Santiago is told to pull over to an area designated for more intensive inspection. Santiago panics, decides to flee and drives off before the further inspection can occur. He later drops Amelia and the children off in the desert, so he can safely get rid of the police who are in pursuit of the vehicle. He never makes it back, and Amelia and children are left stranded in the desert without food or water. After a day of walking while carrying the children, out of fatigue and necessity - realizing that they all will die if she does not get help, Amelia leaves the children behind to find someone, telling them not to move. She eventually finds a U.S. Border Patrol officer, John. To her horror, instead of helping her to find the children, he is more interested in arresting her. After she breaks down into tears out of love for the two children that she raised as her own, John allows her to lead him to where the children were left, but they have wandered away. She is taken back to what appears to be a Border Patrol station, where she is told the children have been found, and that she will be deported from the US as she has been working in the US illegally. Her protests that she had been in the US for 16 years and had looked after the children for the duration of their lives do not secure lenient treatment. We see her at the end meeting her son on the Mexican side of the border at the Tijuana crossing, having been removed from the United States.
The police roughly question Hassan and beat him and his wife until they confess. Abdullah now has the rifle. Later, the two boys confess to their father what they have done. The three flee from the police taking the rifle with them. The police shoot at them, and Yussef shoots back after his brother is shot in his back and one of his legs. Yussef, who shot Susan earlier, eventually surrenders and confesses, and asks for medical treatment for his brother.
Richard and Susan were vacationing in Morocco to mend their own marital woes. It appears the sudden death of their infant son, suggested to be SIDS, has caused a strain on their marriage as they cannot communicate their frustration, guilt, and blame to each other. It is also implied that Richard left the family for awhile after the infant's death. Richard and Susan are on the bus shot at by Yussef and Ahmed. When Susan is hit the bus goes to the nearest village with a doctor. The bus waits some time, but the other passengers demand that it leave, because the heat is hard to bear, and because of the fear of more attacks. Since Susan cannot travel by bus in her condition, the couple stays behind, together with the bus's tour guide Anwar, to wait for transport to a hospital. Political issues between the US and Morocco prevent quick help, but at last a helicopter arrives. The simplicity of the ordeal, Richard caring for and protecting Susan with the fear of losing her, brings them together.
In parallel, we see a rebellious deaf-mute Japanese teenage girl, Chieko (Rinko Kikuchi), who is traumatized by the recent suicide of her mother and a sense that she is not seen by others which is especially exemplified by interactions with her father and boys her age. In response, she has started exhibiting sexually provocative behavior, such as wearing a short skirt and no underpants. She attempts unsuccessfully to initiate a sexual encounter with her dentist. She even goes so far as to try to seduce a police detective, Kenji (Satoshi Nikaido), who visits the house to question Chieko's father, Yasujiro (Kôji Yakusho), about his gun. It turns out Yasujiro is an avid hunter who once went hunting in Morocco and gave his rifle to his tour guide, Hassan.
We also see Richard and Susan's Mexican nanny, Amelia (Adriana Barraza), taking care of their two young children while the couple is stranded in Morocco. Because of the incident she is forced to take care of the children longer than anticipated. Unable to secure help to care for them, she takes them to her son's wedding in Mexico. Rather than stay the night in Mexico with the children, she decides to make the journey back with her nephew Santiago (Gael García Bernal) who throws caution to the wind and drives whilst intoxicated. At the United States border crossing, the vehicle arouses the suspicions of the border guards. Despite having passports, Amelia has no letter of consent from the children's parents allowing her to take them out of the United States, and they suspect that Santiago is intoxicated.
An initial search occurs and then Santiago is told to pull over to an area designated for more intensive inspection. Santiago panics, decides to flee and drives off before the further inspection can occur. He later drops Amelia and the children off in the desert, so he can safely get rid of the police who are in pursuit of the vehicle. He never makes it back, and Amelia and children are left stranded in the desert without food or water. After a day of walking while carrying the children, out of fatigue and necessity - realizing that they all will die if she does not get help, Amelia leaves the children behind to find someone, telling them not to move. She eventually finds a U.S. Border Patrol officer, John. To her horror, instead of helping her to find the children, he is more interested in arresting her. After she breaks down into tears out of love for the two children that she raised as her own, John allows her to lead him to where the children were left, but they have wandered away. She is taken back to what appears to be a Border Patrol station, where she is told the children have been found, and that she will be deported from the US as she has been working in the US illegally. Her protests that she had been in the US for 16 years and had looked after the children for the duration of their lives do not secure lenient treatment. We see her at the end meeting her son on the Mexican side of the border at the Tijuana crossing, having been removed from the United States.
