The fact that James Caviezel was not selected for best actor shows how much this whole "Academy" process and the people involved in it are a joke.
I'm not upset about the nominations that "The Passion" didn't receive, and I'm happy with the ones it did receive. The cinematography, I felt, was Oscar-worthy as soon as I saw a preview; the same with the score. This is separate and apart from the content of the film. I figured the Academy would at least put on the appearance of being objective and above obvious bias and throw a couple of bones to the film in the form of technical awards, so I'm not surprised at these nominations. I think the film also deserves an Oscar for costume.
I'm not surprised or upset that none of the actors got nominated; I mean, it's not an actor-driven movie, but a story-driven movie. And I can't help it, but I just have this wierd feeling about anybody winning an Oscar for portraying Jesus. In my mind, there's something irreverent and tacky at the thought of winning an Oscar for Jesus. (Imagine the jokes if he lost--everybody would talk about how the winner "beat Jesus".) Jesus isn't merely a "role", like "Hamlet". It's more than that. It's above worldly accolades. But if I was going to give any acting awards to the film I would give them to Maia Morgenstern and Hristo Shopov. I thought they did a great job and I hope to see them in more films in the future.
The fact that James Caviezel was not selected for best actor shows how much this whole "Academy" process and the people involved in it are a joke.
The actress who played Mary gave a stunning performance, too. Her eyes showed such profound grief. As a mother, watching it through her eyes was totally devastating to me. I was truly hoping they would not ignore her. Of course, I knew they would, but.........