Al Gore's 'Truth' competes for an Oscar as academy narrows the documentary list (Barf Alert)

Santa Fe New Mexican ^ | 11/16/06 | David Germain

[HonduGOP]

Al Gore's 'Truth' competes for an Oscar as academy narrows the documentary list

By DAVID GERMAIN | Associated Press November 16, 2006

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Al Gore has entered the Academy Awards campaign.

"An Inconvenient Truth," which presents the former vice president's case about the dangers of global warming, is among 15 feature-length documentaries that made the short list for Oscar consideration, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Wednesday.

Ralph Nader, the Green Party candidate who Democrats say siphoned votes from Gore in the 2000 presidential election, also is in the Oscar mix with "An Unreasonable Man," a documentary examining his decades as a consumer activist and critic of the establishment.

Also in the running are two documentaries featuring church leaders involved in sex scandals. "Jesus Camp," which follows children being groomed in evangelical beliefs, features a scene in which superstar minister Ted Haggard condemns homosexuality. Haggard has since been fired from his megachurch amid allegations he had sex with a male prostitute and took drugs.

"Deliver Us From Evil" centers on defrocked Roman Catholic priest Oliver O'Grady, who was deported to his native Ireland after serving seven years in a California prison for molesting two boys. O'Grady has admitted abusing at least 25 children, the film questioning how much church leaders, including Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony, knew about those crimes.

The U.S. war in Iraq and its ramifications also are well represented among potential documentary nominees. On the Oscar short list is "Shut Up & Sing," which examines the backlash against the Dixie Chicks after lead singer Natalie Maines told a concert crowd on the eve of the war in 2003 that the country trio was ashamed President Bush comes from Texas, their home state.

Other Iraq-related documentaries up for consideration include "The War Tapes," edited from footage shot by troops serving in Iraq; "The Ground Truth," featuring Iraq veterans discussing their disillusionment with the war; and "Iraq in Fragments," offering portraits of Iraqis coping with the U.S. led occupation.

The list of 15 contenders was selected by the academy's documentary screening committee from 81 eligible films. Members of the academy's documentary branch will select five nominees from the short list, and finalists will be announced with the rest of the Oscar nominations Jan. 23.

The 79th Oscars will be presented Feb. 25.

[My2Cents]

It will win. Why do they even bother with the charade of putting it up against other nominees?

[Michael.SF.]

He's nominate for two Oscar's?

[BenLurkin]

What's really annoying is that ten years from now -- when the global warming nonsense has been replaced with some other Hegelian 'crises' designed to soften opposition to another expansion of government -- neither Algore nor any of the other perpetrators of this hoax will EVER apologize.

[GSWarrior]

Who didn't see this coming?

[digger48]

Gee....I....never....saw....this...coming

[IndyTiger]

It will win. Why do they even bother with the charade of putting it up against other nominees?

I completely agree. Hollywood wants to see Al Gore standing on the podium on Oscar night. It's a done deal, IMO.

[digger48]

Or the rest of the nominees on the short list.

[dead]

It will win. Why do they even bother with the charade of putting it up against other nominees?

Probably, but considering that every single movie is based on how much conservatives suck in some way, the vote could be split five ways in Hollywood.

[F.J. Mitchell]

The Academy Awards have become as much of a farce as the Nobel Peace prize.

[silent_jonny]

I don't know ... Algore's up against some strong competition. A Catholic bashing flick, a couple of anti-Iraq war movies and, just in case anyone in the audience wasn't sleeping, a documentary about Ralph Nader!

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

At one time, I was nieve enough to believe the dictionary definition of "documentary" film.

Presenting facts objectively without editorializing or inserting fictional matter, as in a book or film."

Then Fahrenhype 9/11 came along, and I learned that documentaries all have a "point of view" -- meaning that they are inherently subjective.

[My2Cents]

Yeah, but it's Al Gore, not some pencil-necked obscure leftist director.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

"What's really annoying is that ten years from now -- when the global warming nonsense has been replaced with some other Hegelian 'crises' designed to soften opposition to another expansion of government -- neither Algore nor any of the other perpetrators of this hoax will EVER apologize."

Far from it -- they'll claim the credit for "turning things around in time". And millions will believe them. Never underestimate the power of cognitive dissonance.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

"Then Fahrenhype 9/11 came along ..."

I need to clarify myself. I've been calling fat Michael's flick "Fahrenhype 9/11" for so long, I sometimes forget that there is actually a movie of that name. Fahrenhype 9/11 fits the old definition of documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11 is a crockumentary.

[RightWhale]

If this wins anything then the movie based on Art Bell & Strieber's book ought to also.

[Argus]

They should have a Best Leftwing Propaganda category but that would be redundant.

[Cyclopean Squid]

"History is a set of lies agreed upon." --Napoleon

[P-40]

Maybe AlGore's 'An Incomplete Truth' should win an Oscar. Don't they awards Oscars for crap?

[kcvl]

That should finish off any credibility the "Oscar" has left.