Babel could hardly have been more unpleasant if all the subtitles were omitted and I was left to suffer understanding only the worst Brad Pitt and lamest Cate Blanchett performances ever captured on film. Three stories of unrelenting and purposeless woe, feebly connected at the film's end by the most tenuous of explanations and unfathomably connected in theme to this sorry viewer.
I can't believe there is Oscar buzz about this work of total crap.
Oddly, the only thing that interested me was hearing the musical score sequeway into a piece very familiar from the TV series
Deadwood - from
four years ago. The score is by Gustavo Santaolalla (who also did
Brokeback Mountain), and it's credited to have been composed for
Babel. But it's not simply a matter of a John Williams or James Horner having scores which are rip-offs of earlier works ... this particular cue was the
precise cue from
Deadwood - so iconic to that series it's used as the background for the DVD menus. (The episodes themselves, however, feature no music credits).
Not that this score would ever garner an Oscar nomination, but I hope discerning members realize it's ineligible for having not been composed for the film in which it appears. And I hope discerning Academy members ignore the buzz and recognize this film for the disjointed piece of crap it truly is.