Politics.
That’s the only possible reason why Children of Men, Alfonso Cuarón’s careful examination of where current politics are leading us, is being passed on for any relevant Academy awards while Babel, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s tepid brew of facile conflicts and contrived connections is receiving nominations left and right.
Its characters’ problems do not stem from the distance created by language barriers, like the movie propaganda wants to present it. It’s not some sort of vocabulary gap keeping people apart, harming their prospects and screwing with their lives. The real problem is that all of them insist on acting like either masochistic sub-morons or outright dicks. And while I’m sure that the immigration problem is close to González’ heart, the way to make the point is not to attempt to make us feel sorry about somebody who consistently makes idiotic decisions. It very hard to related to relate when their bone-headed choices finally catch up with them.
Any other points the movie may have attempted to make are similarly frittered away, along with the great performers in them. Brad Pitt - wasted. Cate Blanchett - squandered in the worst manner I’ve ever seen. Gael García Bernal, Clifton Collins Jr., even Rinko Kikuchi whom I’d never seen before but who I’m looking to watch again. All are dragged down by González’ insistence on shoving the story’s square peg down his usual fragmented narrative style’s round hole, a style which was fresh back in Amores Perros but has now become a dead giveaway that we’re in the presence of a one-trick pony.
González seems to have only one movie in him, and I’m officially tired of watching it.