Cheers. 
That is some good acceptance speech. It is almost as good as Martin Short’s Tony acceptance where he basically thanked himself and no one else.
I am stunned that Babel won, given that it was the most contrived movie of the decade, one in which the plot was driven by the expedient of having each and every major character make bad decisions throughout the entire movie.
[spoiler]Your wife has been shot in the shoulder while going on some tour in Morocco. You can get to a city where there is a “Western” hospital 3 hours away, or take a chance on a town a half-hour away that might have a doctor of unknown quality. What do you do?
You’re stuck in some God-forsaken Moroccan town, waiting on a helicopter. There’s a bus nearby, filled with people who want to leave. Do you plead with them, cajoling them to wait until you have confirmation that the helicopters are on their way, or freak out on the passengers due to the stress of all the bad decisions you made that led up to this point in the movie, hitting a man?
Your son is getting married. In Mexico. You are an illegal immigrant taking care of two American children. Because of complications that you are unaware, you must take care of the children during your sons wedding. Your choice is to take the kids to Mexico and hope you can sneak them back across the border, or miss the wedding. What do you do?
Your plan to bring the kids back has gone horribly, tragically awry. Lost in the desert, dying of dehydration, you must find a road, a car, something. There are no landmarks, everything looks the same, you have two kids with you. Your choice is to continue searching with the kids, or continue searching without the kids, hoping you find both the “authorities” ASAP, and that you can find the kids later. In the desert sameness. What do you do?[/spoiler]
I mean, it all comes out OK in the end, so nobody has to pay for their bad decisions. But it was such a bore watching this thing. I wondered how they were going to resolve it in the end since nobody could make a single correct choice for the entire film, but it was done by the simple expedient of having other people rescue the characters from their stupid choices while pointing out the Very Real and Serious Consequences for that characters future.
Bravo. :rolleyes:
JohnT – thanks – I knew I had no interest in seeing it, but wasn’t sure why. Now I know. 
What, nothing about the Japanese or two brothers storylines?
twickster, do you always base your film choices on one person’s opinion? Whatever you do, do NOT read what Bryan says about Children of Men in that thread, unless you need an excuse to not see it.
Anyway, oftentimes people in crisis (or indeed, in everyday life) make bad decisions. The whole point of the movie was that no one listens to each other, and things get fucked up because of it. Personally, I think that
in real life, the children and Cate Blanchett probably would have died, and probably should have died in the movie, but I’ll overlook that.
It was a very good movie. Maybe not quite as powerful and intense as, say, Children of Men, but worth my time and money. Not the year’s best, but few are. It wasn’t my choice to win the Golden Globe (I wanted The Departed to win), but since it won’t win anything else, I’m happy for the director. And if The Departed wasn’t going to win, better Babel than the other 3 (all of which I did like, even Bobby, but didn’t want to see any of them win).
I didn’t have any dogs in this year’s awards (except Apocalypto, but I knew it wasn’t going to win and I’m just glad it was nominated), so I was able to just enjoy it without getting all fretty about it. I was happy for everyone. I’d seen all the movie nominees except for Letter From Iwo Jima, but I hadn’t seen any of the TV nominees so those parts were boring for me, except America Ferrera’s win. I loved how all the women they showed in the audience while America was speaking had tears in their eyes. I did too.
And bless Meryl Streep’s witty heart! She always gives the BEST speeches. Loved Cohen, loved Mirren, loved Forest Whitacre’s shock. With all the fine work he’s done over the years, this is the first major award he’s ever won, and only the 2nd time he’s been nominated for a Golden Globe. The first time was for Bird way back in 1988. I was rooting for Leo, since he was nominated twice, but this is Forest’s year and I’m very happy for him.
Oh lordy be, Warren Beatty was cute as hell in his prime!
No, of course not – and if I were going to pick one Doper whose opinion I’d allow to guide my cinematic choices … well, I’d have to think long and hard about who that would be. Anyway, my comment was fairly facetious.
That said, however: In general, I don’t like “grim” – so I tend to stay away from movies that I perceive as being “grim” – and it is clear from the reviews and promos that Babel is pretty grim. I’ll sometimes end up seeing such a movie anyway (saw Crash last year because it was my friend’s turn to pick, and that’s what he picked) (hell, also saw Brokeback Mountain, Capote, and Constant Gardener last year, the first two as my choice and the third on the strong recommendation of a friend – and all of which I liked) (um, where was I …) – but I wasn’t planning to see Babel, and I’m not planning to see Children of Men (which I read when it came out, which is, what, damn close to 15 years ago).
Ah, I understand now. Grim isn’t for everybody. Definitely don’t let anyone talk you into going to see Pan’s Labyrinth. It’s a beautifully-made film, but it puts the G in Grim.
Another nice thing about the Golden Globes, I now know how to pronounce Babel. It’s Bab-bull (like cab, tab, fab…babble, dabble) not Bay-bul (sable, cable). I honestly had not heard anyone pronouce it, so I was saying it wrong all these months. I guess I was thinking Tower of Babel instead of Babylon.
Thanks for the tip. Seriously.
If there was a single person in the movie capable of giving sound advice, and that person was being ignored because nobody would listen, then you’d have a point. 
The two brothers was another case of bad decision following bad decision.
Ooh, here’s a gun - let’s steal it! Let’s play target practice - on that moving bus! Let’s hide our culpability until after our family is destroyed - then go and shoot up the army!
Same thing with the schoolgirl.
My life is boring - lets hit on the 30 year-old detective! My mom is dead - let’s make up lies about her!
A complete yawnfest about people unqualified to make a good decision about dinner.
Huh. That’s what I thought, too, and it makes sense. I mean, the whole theme of the movie was lack of communication, which invokes the story of the Tower of Babel a lot more than it does the city of Babylon.