Babel

Just finished watching Babel... Crash for the international scene? Except having but one compelling storyline? (The Japanese deaf-mute girl's.) Boooring film. Read the taglines on imdb.com and you'll have seen the film.

I liked the Japanese storyline because it was the only one without political connotations, and the only one that felt like I was watching characters suffering real pain. Brad Pitt and his wife's problems seem shallow at best, never getting past the purely physical--it's not about them, it's about where they are, and it doesn't matter to me that they're in Morocco or China or New Orleans if they are boring characters.

Mexican woman was just stupid, and I felt no pity for her. The border crossing scenes were heavy-handed and whether or not that's what it's like, it was filmed in such a way to make it seem as if it's purely a cruelty imposed upon Mexicans that the American border patrol officers enjoy.

Why was this up for best picture?

Lesson to filmmakers--don't make films 'for your family/kids' as this one was--they always turn out sappy and sentimental. Besides the J storyline, the other three came to very dull, 'happy' conclusions. Yes the kid's brother got killed, but he learned, as was apparently the film's 'deep message', that guns are bad. Whoopty-fuckin-do.