...the Oscar goes to

Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby walked away with the top awards at the Oscars, pipping favourites Ray and The Aviator, reports Ervell E. Menezes

Clockwise: Hillary Swank won the Best Actress Oscar for Million Dollar Baby, while Ray’s Jamie Foxx was Best Actor Clint Eastwood won the Best Director Oscar

So Hollywood’s biggest show of the year created quite a stir. Quite well scripted it was, starting with Ray Charles music plus Black presenter Chris Rock and Morgan Freeman getting the Best Supporting Actor Oscar and then going on to The Aviator with lesser awards and just when one thought that they might be honouring both Martin Scorcese and Howard Hughes they turned on to that old man Clint Eastwood and his Million Dollar Baby walked off with the top awards.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences did a good job, pleasing a wide plethora of lobbies, including the Spanish with the best song Oscar for Al Otro Lado Del Rio (The Other Side of the River) from The Motorcycle Diaries, the story of Che Guevara’s journey through South America and particularly their visit to the leper island which along with the abject poverty abounding sowed the seeds of his revolutionary character. The song was sung by Antonio Banderas with Carlos Santana on the guitar and lovely Spanish actress Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek at the mike.

So director Martin Scorcese had to remain without an Oscar whereas old man Clint Eastwood got his second Directors Award (the first was for Unforgiven in 1993) and also the Best Picture Oscar, the Best Actress Oscar (Hillary Swank) and the Best Supporting Actor Oscar (Freeman). Once Dirty Harry and the Few Dollars film cowboy, now a distinguished septuagenarian, was in his seventh heaven, along with his 95-year-old mother (who was there in 1993 also) and his adoring cast. When Hillary Swank entered she was quite modest in saying she was happy "to be a working actor" but when she deservedly got the Best Actress Oscar she was thrilled and to think that for the last five years, since Boys Don’t Cry she was very nearly anonymous.

Jamie Foxx entered with his daughter and Kirsten Dunst with her brother and as the presenters massaged their egos it was all very blasé. Everyone was looking great, everyone had a great gown and superlatives were lad thick, even for the anemic Gwenyth Paltrow and the plain Jane Rene Zellweiger. Robin Williams had a dig at the women of Hollywood with their "expression of constant surprise." The Black presenter was good with some jibes at all and sundry, both black and white and, not surprisingly, resorting to Bush-bashing.

Jamie Foxx got the Best Actor Oscar and guess no one could stop him from getting it and it was touching to hear him speak of his grandma who was his first teacher. "Act like you have sense," she used to tell him and whip him for his mistakes but also explain why he went wrong. "Now we talk in our dreams," he said and couldn’t wait to go to sleep "because we’ve got a lot of talking to do," words that went deep, deep within.

Cinematographer Robert Richardson won his Oscar for The Aviator. It was great to see Sidney Lumet being honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award and who should be doing the honours but his favourite actor Al Pacino who said how he was inspired by Lumet’s drama version of The Iceman Cometh.. A village poet once told Pacino "if you dig it, it’s yours," and this was precisely his liaison with Lumet. There were clips from Dog Day Afternoon, The Verdict (Paul Newman), Network (Peter Finch) and one was able to see the talent of the man in the same league as Billy Wilder, John Frankenheimer and Co.

As every year it is the obituary section that evokes so much sadness what with giants like Marlon Brando, Christopher Reeve, Tony Randall, Howard Keel (Seven Brides for Seven Brothers) , Janet Leigh (shower scene in Psycho) and Carrie Snodgress (Dairy of a Mad Housewife).

There was MGM man Roger Meyer speaking of his over 52-year-old marriage picking a hole in the saying "and they say nothing lasts in Hollywood." Very true, Mr Mayer but one swallow doesn’t a summer make. One could spot Mickey Rooney looking flabby and old and it seemed light years since he was along Elizabeth Taylor in National Welvet but then that’s life for you, a beginning, a middle and ….

Scarlett Johanson of Lost in Translation said she was inspired by Judy Garland and yesteryear stud Warren Beatty looked mellowed a bit. The comparative newcomers like Virginia Madson, Clive Owen and Halle Berry got their moment in the sun and will continue to do so as the Oscars will go on. So ciao then, until 2006, inshallah..

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