Posted on 02/25/2005 11:22:14 AM PST by jbemis
THE BEST PICTURE
BY JAMES BEMIS
When this year’s Academy Award nominees were announced, many were shocked Mel Gibson’s THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST was not nominated for a single major award. The movie, which chronicled Jesus’ last twelve hours, took the cinematic world by storm.
BREAKING AN UNSPOKEN TABOO
Because the movie was filmed in Latin and Aramaic with no big-name stars, Hollywood insiders figured producer and director Gibson was throwing away his $30 million investment. However, upon general release in February 2004, it was obvious something extraordinary had occurred: THE PASSION was not only a box office smash but the film succeeded brilliantly as cinema.
Gibson expertly puts us at Ground Zero of the last twelve hours in Christ’s life. In his wisdom, the director played it straight, letting the gripping Passion narrative unfold just as it has been passed down through the ages – thankfully, there’s hardly a modern touch found anywhere in the film.
In taking Christianity seriously, however, “The Passion” broke Hollywood’s unspoken taboo. Controversy raged about whether the film was “anti-Semitic.” But whether people loved or hated the film, most agreed it was extraordinarily powerful cinema. The question was not if the film would be nominated for major awards, but how many.
Then came January 26’s startling news: THE PASSION was nominated for three minor awards but no major ones. Few imagined Hollywood’s bias against Christianity was so big – and its elite so small – that THE PASSION would be virtually snubbed when the Academy Award nominations were announced. Was 2004 such a stellar year for the movies that a great cinematic achievement like THE PASSION could be ignored?
THE SECOND-RATE COMPETITION
Hardly. The five films nominated for 2004’s Best Picture are – at best – second-rate, forgettable as last week’s leftovers. RAY, for instance, is simply a mediocre bio-pic of the sort – albeit seamier – Hollywood used to churn out by the dozens: THE GLENN MILLER STORY, THE BENNY GOODMAN STORY, THE GENE KRUPA STORY, THE EDDY DUCHIN STORY, etc. (None of these – including RAY – holds a candle to “YANKEE DOODLE DANDY,” though.) You never forget you’re watching a movie about Ray Charles: Despite all the acting accolades, Jamie Foxx seems far too delicate and insubstantial for the role of a tough, complex giant like Ray Charles. As one who loves Charles’ music, I wanted to like the movie but found it trite and unmoving. Most viewers would better understand “The Genius” by listening to a greatest hits CD rather than watching this anemic film.
It says much about the corrupted state of our culture that Clint Eastwood’s MILLION DOLLAR BABY is considered mainstream. The story involves the freakish sport of female boxing, an activity that would be unthinkable in a civilized society. None of the athletes exhibit even the faintest hint of feminine virtue, but instead talk, act and think like undersized men with mammeries. Worse, the film smiles upon the “mercy killing” of an invalid by the nominally Catholic “hero.” The message: Once you’ve lost the ability to earn big bucks pulverizing women in a boxing ring, then life just ain’t worth living. This is deep thinking, Hollywood-style.
Finally, director Eastwood can’t resist taking cheap shots at the Catholic Church. As in last year’s MYSTIC RIVER, a priest is disparaged: This time, he’s made to appear immature and so ignorant he can’t explain the doctrine of the Trinity or the Immaculate Conception to a pesky parishioner. In short, MILLION DOLLAR BABY is a thoroughly repulsive film.
Martin Scorsese’s THE AVIATOR is similar to Howard Hughes’ Spruce Goose: so overblown it hardly gets airborne. This leaden biography of Hughes (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) is a cartoonish, indulgent, almost amateurish production. DiCaprio’s hair looks like it was dyed with shoe polish. In the second lead role, Cate Blanchett’s caricature of Katherine Hepburn is uproariously incompetent. Like every movie Scorsese has made since 1980’s great RAGING BULL, this film is too long, too loud, and too lumbering. Nothing in it rings true. Put another way, THE AVIATOR, as they say, must be seen to be disbelieved.
Critically acclaimed SIDEWAYS reveals more about its admirers than it does about human nature. The story revels in degradation - of marriage, friendship, courtship, family, etc. You name it, SIDEWAYS demeans it. Ostensibly about two friends on a week-long wine tasting binge before one’s wedding, the wretched SIDEWAYS is a sort of upscale PORKY’S, replete with foul language, naked fat slobs, animal-like carnality and juvenile high-jinks by two thoroughly unlikable male leads. If this is the “cultural landmark” many are saying, conservatives must ask whether American society has much left worth conserving.
FINDING NEVERLAND, a story about “Peter Pan” creator J. M. Barrie, is a thin but rewarding film, featuring an excellent performance by Johnny Depp – the first role I’ve seen in which he doesn’t grossly overact. Another highlight is the extraordinary performance by Freddie Highmore as a member of the family that inspires Barrie to write “Peter Pan.” NEVERLAND is an enjoyable and touching movie, but ultimately is rather insubstantial.
RELISHING RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY
By any artistic standard, THE PASSION is far superior to any of the films nominated as Best Picture. Why the cold-shoulder? First, part of the wailing over the movie was veiled envy from an embarrassed Hollywood establishment, those makers of infantile comedies and seductive trivialities who saw what a real filmmaker could do. Watching THE PASSION is an unforgettable experience: It demonstrates the heights that cinema is capable of but rarely achieves, especially these days.
Second, THE PASSION’S snubbing puts the lie to the Hollywood establishment’s reputed “tolerance.” In fact, a hostile blacklisting of Gibson and other Christians now occurring is far more hideous than anything happening during the supposed “Dark Ages” of the McCarthy blacklisting era because it is done out of religious intolerance. Over the years, observers have noted how Hollywood executives relish producing films that undermine, demean, and ridicule the Christian faith. This year the mask is ripped off and we see the bared fangs of religious bigotry in all its grisly and vivid ugliness. In a year when a great film like THE PASSION so obviously should have been honored, Tinseltown’s elites instead chose five forgettable films as the finest they had to offer. Faced with an opportunity to rise above their prejudices for a change, the Academy – to its everlasting shame - took a flyer.
The 2004 Academy Awards forever will be remembered as when the year’s best picture wasn’t nominated as Best Picture.
I apologize, I didn't realize your sarcasm. Too many people beating this to death that I am numb.
I thought they hated Christians. As for how they treat or portray Catholics, I can be open minded; but, I have a large collection of movies and am more than a little taken aback at the notion that Hollywierd gives Catholicism a raw deal. It would be interesting to see a list of the people in Hollywood that are Catholic and portray Catholics preferentially as a result. How many Pentacostal ministers can you remember on the screen? Horror movies always seem to have the Catholic priest dragged in to pose as a hero or hero wannabe. Without commenting on the reality of that, I'd love to hear what such a charge is based upon. I may agree or disagree - don't know. The charge just doesn't seem to square with the portrayals I've seen on screen. Perhaps you're still ouching from Braveheart? I know Catholics tend to paint the picture that anyone mentioning the inquisitions is by definition intolerant, anti-catholic and a bigot for bringing it up. Somehow, I don't get the feeling that Germans feel hated and reviled by the world because of Hitler or the mention of World War II. Just an insight.. but, please, proceed...
It still amazes me that "The Passion" was not nominated for Picture (or Director, Actor) when that overlong sappy bore-fest "Return of the King" was nominated and WON last year. "The Passion" had me on the balls of my feet with chills on my neck from start to finish. ROTK had me falling asleep for the last 90 minutes. Will be skipping the irrelevant Oscars for the first time this year.
Which was robbed for Best Picture by the thoroughly detestable "Ordinary People" (watch it now and marvel at how it ever won).
Ping.
Correction: Scorsese WAS one of the greatest living directors. He's done nothing worthwhile for decades.
He's right, though. With the possible exception of "GoodFellas" (which I think is grossly overrated and has a dreadful ending), Scorcese has not produced a single substantial film since "Raging Bull" (for which he should have clearly won over the ridiculous choice of "Ordinary People" and it's director Robert Redford).
No correction, please, that's your view, not mine. In the past two decades I've loved After Hours, Goodfellas, The Age of Innocence; Cape Fear and Gangs of New York were greatly flawed but still better than most of Gibson's works.
I am a Jew and was very moved by "The Passion" and consider it one of the finest films ever made. I railed against so-called "Jewish" leaders like that fat socialist creep Abe Foxman.
And watching a three-hour film about an eccentric millionaire who once dated Katherine Hepburn is your idea of important cinema? Somebody's values are perverted--and it's not Gibson's.
"Gangs" better than "Braveheart"? Surely you jest.
Nope. Braveheart was laughable garbage.
If Braveheart was "garbage", no wonder you think Scorsese's Aviator is great--you've got bad taste.
Overall I have to say movies are in a big ol' slump. There is a noticeable lack of energy and imagination. It seems like people are either making a massive product with no personal feeling in it, bludgeon the audience with their points, or making these whiney little boo-hoo life sucks indie navel-gazer flicks I don't want to see.
Pray for W and Our Troops
BTTT
The two are really just two sides to the same emotional coin. Heads can't find flaw with the film because it is so dear to the hearts of the head camp. The tails camp can't anything to like about the film because if they don't actually hate Christ himself, they certainly hold christians in contempt.
The film is a movie best loved by those who love it. No need to muddy the waters with film-making awards and accolades. No need at all to ask anyone to be objective about the movie.
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