The Nominees
The Departed: Martin Scorsese must be feeling a bit invisible, thanks to the long-running joke that is his lack of actual wins. But give the man his Best Director statue — Clint Eastwood already has one — and let’s depart from The Departed, which is really only 2/3 of a great movie. What about that last 1/3 following an otherwise riveting, sweat-inducing thrill ride? Surprise revelations to manipulate the audience. Characters suddenly losing enough IQ points to make inexplicable mistakes. In other words, an ending that comes across as an illogical and frustrating (pardon the pun) cop-out.
Babel: A mostly magnificent achievement, Babel is the film Crash wanted to be. It touches on the universal theme of how people relate (or don’t relate) to each other without indulging melodrama or sappy sentiments. If the Oscar were to go to Babel, it wouldn’t be an upset. However, with the interlocking stories not all being of equal strength, Babel is a mixture of merely good and occasional great. It’s just not my first choice for Best Picture.
Letters from Iwo Jima: A masterful, humanistic film, Clint Eastwood’s war drama is a war movie even for people who don’t care for war movies. Eastwood demonstrates yet again why his name deserves to be uttered alongside Scorsese, Altman, Spielberg, Kubrick and the like: He knows how to make a picture. But however superb a cinematic achievement, Letters of Iwo Jima isn’t particularly subtle or complex. This is a film that appeals to the emotions, mostly without being manipulative, but the moral lesson on the universality of human suffering doesn’t exactly come as news. Granted, there are people who could use a refresher course, but I’m too much of a frustrated idealist to believe that a mere movie can actually change the world. A significant film, yes, but not earth-shattering.
Little Miss Sunshine: Call it Little Miss Surprise hit. With all the spirit of an independent film, this quirky dramedy about a dysfunctional family struggling to pull itself together while propelling young Olive to a beauty pageant is pure delight. Funny, touching and a great example of showing without telling, Little Miss Sunshine certainly stands out among the past year’s crowd. Maybe it’s the dance. If there is a reason why this film, in itself, shouldn’t win, it lies only in the strength of the competition. Which brings me to:
The Queen: I went in to this movie expecting a rather ponderous portrait of the British monarchy. Instead, I got a brilliantly performed look at people I wouldn’t normally think about — without the film being either a rah-rah for the monarchy or a single-minded condemnation of an admittedly outmoded and irrelevant institution. The Queen is all about very human people in difficult situations. Just for defying expectations with grace and intelligence, The Queen deserves the Best Picture the most out of all the nominees.
Now for My Pick
You’ll notice, of course, that I did say “out of all the nominees.” This implies that my own personal pick for Best Film of the year isn’t among the nominees. Quite right.
If we consider for a moment just what it means to describe the “Best Picture,” a few criteria come to mind: technically accomplished, entertaining, intellectually stimulating. But let’s not forget: original, novel, creative. Sure, all the nominees demonstrate originality — except, arguably, The Departed, which is a remake of the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs. There’s another film that stands above them all, however — at least in my ever-so-humble opinion.
A love story spanning millennia. The fear of death that prompts a quest for immortality. Beautiful imagery that the takes the film beyond film to the level of art. This is a movie that is not only a great cinematic experience but a great artistic experience as well. It’s a shame the director didn’t get a nod either, let alone the film. Still, if I were giving out the Best Picture award, it would go to:The Fountain.
