The Academy Gets It Right

I’ve got to give the Oscars major credit this year. They really nailed it on most of the major awards. Crash unquestionably deserved Best Picture, and it was a pleasant surprise to see it win. Racial tensions may not be as sexy of a political topic as homosexuality, conflict in the middle east or a culture of McCarthyism in 2006, but the film was simply better than the others. It moved me much more than the other films, and was a thought provoking film that did not provide any easy answers. I really thought Brokeback Mountain was going to win, and I’m very glad it didn’t given it was a good film but not one that fully came together. These awards, after all, should be about art. I haven’t seen Capote yet, but Philip Seymour Hoffman is not the sort of performer that traditionally gets an Oscar, and it’s nice to see him get the recognition. The Best Actress went the opposite direction, as Reese Witherspoon is exactly the sort of performer that gets an Oscar. The pretty and popular actress doing the prestige film works all the time, even for an individual performance that doesn’t fully deserve the Oscar (Halle Berry) or is an outright joke as “best” of the year (Julia Roberts). However, in this case Reese Witherspoon more than deserves the award. I did not go into Walk the Line with high expectations, because I’m not much of a fan of Johnny Cash and the musical biopic was just honored last year. But it is a fine film, and Witherspoon really helps to hold it together. So bravo Academy, for making the right choices.