"robbed" v., 1. Al Gore, 2. Brokeback Mountain
After picking up our Round Table pizza (yes, we do appreciate the finer things in life), Nicki and I drove to her mom’s house to watch the Oscars. I have only seen two movies of note this year, Brokeback Mountain and The Constant Gardener, so this doesn’t exactly qualify me as a movie critic. But I can honestly say that I know how to pick them, because Brokeback and Gardener are two of the best movies I have seen in recent years. As we drove through inclement weather to watch the Awards, I had a foreboding feeling that Crash (the LA race drama) was going to upset Brokeback. Unfortunately, my gut was right. Now I haven’t seen Crash, but I trust those close to me that have told me it is not worth my time – a surface level/ neatly packaged/ contrived look at LA race issues. In one review it is called “a feel-good film about racism.” So how did this movie win? I didn’t have a single friend recommend this movie to me, or comment on how much it made them think (let alone cry) in the hours after viewing the movie. The love stories and the larger social/political issues in both Constant Gardener and Brokeback embed themselves in their viewers for days and months. They don’t wrap themselves up nicely in the end, they don’t make you feel good – but they make you feel something. I sat stunned on the couch for about fifteen minutes – shocked by both the loss as well as by how much the news was affecting me. Nicki finally asked me, “Leah, whenever have you known the Oscars to actually award the best film correctly?” I realized she was right. However, there is some part of me that hopes each year that they might for once get it right. Something about this year’s movies (Good Night and Good Luck, Capote, Walk the Line) made me forget that this same Academy voted for the sickly-sweet A Beautiful Mind. So as of today, Brokeback Mountain enters my pop culture lexicon under "robbed," co-existing in a category once solely inhabited by Al Gore. I promise to watch Crash, but I don’t promise to like it.
posted by LeahT at 1:24 PM
3 Comments:
The best movies of the year almost never win best picture. The exception to that rule for me is The English Patient.
This article sums it up - it's what burst my bubble and made me realize that the Oscars are one big schmooz fest. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1999/03/14/PK84672.DTL&hw=oscar+thin+red+line&sn=003&sc=849
BTW - The Thin Red Line really was a wondeful movie - so is The New World.
Also, I think Crash sucked. And it was made by a guy who's last name is the same as a popular Scottish dish made of "sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver, windpipe and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally boiled in the animal's stomach for approximately an hour." I rest my case...
PS Thanks to Wikipedia for the description of haggis.
Of the nominees the only movie I have seen was “Crash”. Therefore, I can’t say which one really deserved to win. However, I did not think that “Crash” sucked! I did feel that it was an important and provocative movie, and it did stay with me! Our country does have its prejudices and we have a long way to go. Did you hear about the show on the FX channel, where a white and black family trade lives for six weeks (with the help of makeup artists)?
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