[knife_fight]

you can also use children effectively to convey feelings that would sound silly coming from an adult, such as the scene in "Julia" (book version, can't remember if it made it to the screen or not) when our heroine walks into a playground and, upon observing a curious child playing by herself, asks another, more social, youngster why no one is playing with her. the reply is simple, yet so thought-provoking, "because she's awful."
such a simple line, but it really packs a wallop.

I too am tired of filmmakers who feel they must spell everything out for their audience, but until the lazy audiences of the silver screen can start seeing film as both art and entertainment, I don't think it'll stop.