The Oscars endeared themselves to Indians this year by paying homage to Shashi Kapoor and Sridevi in the ‘In Memoriam’ section, alongside legends like Jerry Lewis, Roger Moore, Jonathan Demme, Jean Moreau and others who passed away in 2017-2018.
This all-embracing, encompassing nature of the awards was also evident in host Jimmy Kimmel’s opening monologue where he tried to address not one but several issues, all at a go. From ‘envelopegate’ (“This year, when you hear your name called, don’t get up right away. Just give us a minute.”) and Pricewaterhouse Coopers to Harvey Weinstein, Mel Gibson and Donald Trump — everyone was at the receiving end of his barbs. It wasn’t just movements centered around “Me Too”, “Time’s Up” or “Never Again” but age too became a point of discussion — from the youngest nominee in the acting category in 80 years, 22-year-old Timothee Chalamet ( Call Me By Your Name ) to the oldest ever at 88, Christopher Plummer ( All The Money In The World ).
Last year colour, diversity and tolerance were the main themes at the Oscars. This year there seemed to be an embarrassment of riches when it came to the socio-political issues. Gender, age, sexuality, colour, diversity — in giving nods to all and more, at times it felt like Oscar had bitten off more than it could chew. Of all of them, “representation”, took the upper hand, right down to an exclusive montage. “Marginalised people deserve to feel like they belong. Representation matters,” emphasised Lee Unkrich, director of Coco , winner in the best animated feature category. It was left to Tiffany Haddish and Maya Rudolph to bring some colour in with their take on #OscarsSoWhite. It also got underlined in Jordon Peele bagging the best original screenplay Oscar for Get Out , the first African-American to have won it and only one of the four Black writers to have ever been nominated.
Yet, it also seemed to be all about some tightrope walking too. Even in the choice of the best film category, the Academy didn’t opt for the radical or contentious politics of a Get Out or Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri respectively. It went for The Shape of Water , a humane, metaphorical exploration of marginalisation and loneliness — one which ticked all the boxes, of colour, sexuality, gender and even that of being differently-abled, without being in your face about it.
Despite the prologue set by the host, the very first award of the evening was the kind that might have gladdened the heart of Donald Trump — Sam Rockwell as the racist Officer Dixon in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri . It’s a powerhouse performance but an extremely problematic character. Then how does one reconcile with Kobe Bryant winning the statuette for Best Animated Short for his Dear Basketball , despite Bryant having publicly apologised to his accuser on sexual assault charges? Not to forget the disappointment in seeing Gary Oldman win it for being Winston Churchill in The Darkest Hour . Where does one draw the line between performer and performance?
On the one hand there were such political ambiguities and contradictions. On the other an intriguing narrative played out as many causes jostled for the same award. “May the best cause win” could well have been a tagline. So, much may have been made about Rachel Morrison being the first woman to be nominated in the cinematography category, but could you contest that Roger A. Deakins deserved the trophy for Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 , after 13 previous unsuccessful shots at it?
In the 90th year of Oscars you had the oldest nominee, 89-year-old Belgian-born French filmmaker Agnes Varda for her documentary, Faces Places but the award eventually went to, Icarus – an investigation into the furtive world of illegal doping in Russian sports. It also marked the first Oscar for Netflix. Last year awarding The White Helmets , about rescue workers in Syria, was all about turning Trump’s “travel ban” around, metaphorically speaking. This year, another nominee in the documentary category was Last Men in Aleppo on the Syrian Civil War. Although it didn’t win the game and one of its producers — Kareen Abeed — got his American visa at the last minute.
There were gimmicks and gags, long montages and a jet-ski up for grabs. But there were pure moments of joy: Eva Marie Saint, who at 93 is older than the Oscars, remembering “Fred” Hitchcock; Frances McDormond acknowledging all the women nominees and introducing the world to a new term — inclusion rider; Daniela A Fantastic Woman Vega, the transgender actor bringing terrific grace on stage; James Ivory, a few months shy of 90, remembering his co-conspirators Ismail Merchant and Ruth Pravar Jhabwala.
Maybe I am just clutching on to the memories of Asghar Farhadi’s fantastic speech read out in absentia last year at the Oscars. Or maybe I am still taken in with Oprah Winfrey’s strong feminist statement at the Golden Globes a few weeks ago. Somehow Emma Stone’s “These four men — and Greta Gerwig — created their own masterpieces this year” introduction to the Best Director Award seemed like just a carry forward of Natalie Portman’s stinging one at the Globes: “And now, here are the all male nominees.” Last year Gael Garcia Bernal had said, “As a Mexican, as a migrant worker, as a human being, I’m against any form of wall that separates us.” Guillermo del Toro carried on in much the same vein last evening as he celebrated Mexico and movies: “I am an immigrant... I think that the greatest thing our art does and our industry does is to erase the lines in the sand. We should continue doing that when the world tells us to make them deeper.”
Much is being written of the politics at the Oscars this year but the die for it had been cast with focus and force in 2017 itself. The year 2018 has been all about the inheritance of the theme.
