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The magic of Avatar dimmed appreciably at
the 82nd Academy Awards as smaller IN a year of numerous significant firsts, the 82nd edition of the Academy Awards made a clean break from the past like never before. The message that went out from Kodak Theatre, Los Angeles, was that small films are anything but pushovers although the big-grossing Avatar, as expected, did hold its ground in some the technical categories — art direction, cinematography and visual effects. But the big awards of the night — Best Motion Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay — went to The Hurt Locker.
Stand-up comedienne Mo’nique, winner of the Supporting Actress Oscar category for her stunning performance in Precious: Based on the novel Push by Sapphire, a small, unflinching and eventually life-affirming film made on a fraction of the budget of an average Hollywood production, put her finger on the distinction that commercial movie industries usually fail to make between "what is popular" and "what is right". This year, for a change, the 6,000-odd members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences achieved that rare discernment. For the first time since the Oscar ceremony of 1943 — that was the year of Casablanca — as many as 10 films were nominated in the Best Motion Picture category. So, was it more the merrier? Well, not quite because the real battle eventually narrowed down to just two contenders: James Cameron’s visual effects extravaganza Avatar and Kathryn Bigelow’s Iraq War drama The Hurt Locker. What made this duel for the Oscars particularly interesting was another unprecedented situation: Cameron and Bigelow were once married to each other. The estranged couple were competing in the best direction category as well. Bigelow won. Small was big this Oscar night. It was an Oscar year that turned the spotlight on seasoned actors that have been in the business for years but had never got here. They earned well-deserved recompense by taking home the coveted statuette. In fact, all the four acting Oscars went to performers who had never won before. For Mo’nique, who regards herself more as a stand-up comic than an actress, the win had special resonance: she is only the fifth Black woman to win an acting Oscar. She made it a point to thank Hattie McDaniel, who won the same honour 70 years ago for Gone With The Wind and opened the doors for others. "I want to thank Miss Hattie McDaniel for enduring all she had to so that I would not have to," she said in her acceptance speech. Jeff Bridges, with five Academy Award nominations and nearly four decades of solid work behind him, won the Oscar for an actor in a leading role for his performance as a down-and-out country musician in Crazy Heart. Similarly, Sandra Bullock, who has been one of Hollywood’s most reliable box office draws over the past two decades, had never even been nominated for an Oscar until this year. Her triumphal return to the thick of the action in 2009 resulted in The Blind Side, the real-life story of a Memphis woman, who takes in a homeless African-American boy and transforms his and her own life. The film catapulted Bullock into the hallowed league of Oscar winners. Interestingly, Bullock, contemporary American cinema’s Miss Congeniality, was also up for a Razzie (the awards for year’s biggest movie embarrassments that are handed out on the eve of the Oscars) for the box office and critical disaster, All About Steve. And that was another incredible first. It was a night that was dominated by The Hurt Locker. Bigelow became the first woman ever to win the Best Director Academy Award. It was easy to see why. As the film’s writer Mark Boal, a former embedded journalist, who dug into his experiences in Iraq to come up with his Oscar-winning screenplay, put it: "Kathyryn represents the spirit of the best of independent filmmaking". With large numbers of American soldiers stationed in war zones Iraq and Afghanistan, concerns run high in the US about military conflict and its repercussions. The film captures the sense of foreboding as well as the sense of guilt that hangs over the US. This tale about members of a bomb disposal squad in war-ravaged Iraq has yielded what is being regarded as one of the greatest combat films ever made. Besides breaking a long-held misconception that women cannot helm war films, it presents disquieting portraits of men caught in the vortex of violence. In a milieu where human life hangs by a thread and death is always only one false step away, only a thin line separates men from monsters. Avatar, on the other hand, is the most expensive and most successful film ever made. It takes viewers on a ride that no movie has ever done. It is a visual treat no doubt, but its emotional connect is at best superficial. James ‘Titanic’ Cameron’s first film in 12 years, Avatar is a fantasy saga set on a distant moon in the 22nd century. More a movie experience than a pure piece of cinema, the film, which uses digital 3-D projection, besides specially developed technology, stems from its undeniable visual appeal and the sheer sweep of its mind-boggling CGI effects. Precious came in from the cold and quickly acquired the status of an instant classic. Adapted by director Lee Daniels, it tells the horror story of a 16-year-old illiterate and overweight ghetto girl who is a victim of endless parental abuse, but she dares to dream of a better life for herself. She goes to a special school, meets a kind-hearted teacher and manages to escape her lot. It is a tribute to the human spirit in the most trying circumstances. Although the film’s lead actress Gabourey Sidibe did not win the Oscar, she was the cynosure of all eyes inside Kodak Theatre. It was indeed the year
of the underdog — Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds lost
out in all categories that it was nominated in with the exception of
the Oscar for an actor in a supporting role. Austrian actor Christoph
Waltz, a virtual unknown outside of Europe until Tarantino cast him in
his film, embodied the spirit of the evening. The 82nd Academy Awards
night was an all-out`A0celebration of perseverance and true talent.
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