Finding Babel

Andrei, 45-year old grandson of Isaac Babel, a writer representing a high point of Russian culture and language, journeys through places and meets people connected with him in Ukraine, France and Russia, hoping to better understand his grandfather’s powerful artistic method and elusive persona. With each stop, he gets closer to the complex stories that Babel wrote with depth and hidden meaning. These stories are woven into the film with ethereal animation that puts the viewer, like Babel’s readers, somewhere between reality and fiction. Ultimately, Andrei must face the arrest, torture and execution of his grandfather, the brutal reality of Soviet totalitarianism. He and his interview subjects are compelled to link Babel’s often-hidden themes to today’s conflicts in Ukraine and current political underpinnings in Russia. Passion is power, history is contemporary, and the artist is subversive.