Babel: A Lady's View

posted: 25 January 2007 by Anna Chapman

A film starring Gael and Brad is sure to be a rip-roaring drool-fest. Right?

The prospect of Gael Garcia Bernal and Brad Pitt in one film would have most women frothing at the bit. And so it was when I entered the cinema
to watch Babel. My husband groaned when Pitt appeared on the screen (out of dismay, not lust) but his disappointment didn't last long: my heartthrobs were soon dwarfed by this epic picture.

As an American tourist whose wife has been shot, Pitt comes off worse. Rather than arousing sympathy, his Western arrogance is a right turn off. My husband didn't even recognise Gael as a lairy 'tached Mexican driver. He's brilliant (of course) but it's not a role that makes you want to go phwoar! (a reaction he even managed to provoke as a transvestite in Bad Education).

People are moaning because Brad Pitt didn't get an Oscar nomination. Have they seen the film? Babel isn't a showcase for eye candy, it's an ambitious swoop through Mexico, Japan and Morocco. It deserves to have been nominated for best picture and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu should win best director (even though the film buffs in the office say he'll lose to Scorcese because the Academy thinks it's about time he won one).

Pitt is better than usual as a desperate dad, but it's a role we've seen millions of times before. So stuff ogling pretty boys, I'd much rather spend £8 getting inside the head of a randy Moroccan shepherd or a blind Japanese teenager who likes to flash her furry monster. Wouldn't you?