Director: Alejandro Gonzlez Irritu
Cast:

My thoughts ...

-- i thought it began well, but the "editing" (i.e., jump from scenes to scenes) actually offset the pacing rather than keep you thrilled/puzzled about what is gonna happen on the other story ...

-- nonetheless, i thought a lot of issues/scenarios were so GENUINE/realistic that you will be able to associate with some incidents/hearsay/news that you have come across ... in particular ... some of the scenes that i like ...

(i) the maid and kids incident ... so sad ... so difficult to be judgmental ... but so real ...

(ii) the immigration checkpoint scene ...

(iii) the Japanese girl ...

(iv) the stereotypes of various ethnicity/place/etc ...

What could be better?

(i) the editing/pacing?

(ii) i thought one scene in particular could be improved (i.e., the one whereby the busload of people wanted to leave ... as of now, it is a pretty one sided kind of story ... most audience may hate/blame them for being selfish and being too steretypical/phobic of the rural area) ...

i thought a better improvement would be letting audience wonder whether Brad is just as selfish (if the director allows another passenger to really suffer from hit stroke ...) ... in that case, the audience are made to wonder more abt what is right/wrong, or what to do becos there is no easy right/wrong ...

Conclusion: 
Recommended ... laudable mainly for its great universal message about communication/listening/empathy/etc ... and definitely its international effort, with a great cast, in diff location and different languages (not an easy feat indeed) ... for that ... * CLAP * ... 

now the tough question ... is it really the Best Film of 2005?! hmmm ... i think Crash from last year may be more engaging ... 

BUT i am NOT against Babel getting the Best Film award cos I think HFPA wanted to spread the univeral message of understanding and communication ... hopefully, the world will get to watch it and be a better place ... 

The Departed (however) is more tight in terms of story telling ... nonetheless, it may not have as powerful a message as Babel ...