Sorry. I usually go off on at least one rant in these things. I just never thought it would be on Best Song.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
As It Is in Heaven
The Chorus
Downfall
The Sea Inside
Yesterday
Will Win: The Sea Inside
Should Win: The Sea Inside
All right. Before I get into this, let me give you an alternate five…
Maria Full of Grace
A Very Long Engagement
House of Flying Daggers
The Motorcycle Diaries
Bad Education
With the exception of House of Flying Daggers, none of these were eligible for Best Foreign Film this year. Now, in some cases, like Bad Education, the country of origin submitted something else instead, like The Sea Inside, and I’m sure that was a tough call. In others, like Engagement, it wasn’t even eligible for submission due to some obscure-ass rule. But for whatever reason, some of the best-reviewed films of last year didn’t make the cut, and I’ll bet you’ve heard of more of these than you have of the actual nominated films. Weird, huh?
That having been said, the best reviewed, and known, of what’s left is The Sea Inside. Now, brand-name recognition is not always a guarantee. Witness No Man’s Land’s win over Amelie in ’01 (Jeunet can’t get a break here, can he?). And something like that might happen here with The Chorus, probably the second best known film of the bunch, getting an upset. However, Academy voters might confuse it with As It Is in Heaven which is ALSO about an influential conductor with an unlikely rag-tag chorus. Downfall plays the WWII card (see wins for Nowhere in Africa, Life Is Beautiful, and Burnt by the Sun if you think it’s a cliché), but it controversially portrays Hitler as, well, human, hurting its chances.
Having not seen any of the first five (and almost all of the second), I’m just gonna go with the most lauded one and pick Sea for my “should.” In case you’re curious, I’d pick Engagement from the second five. How about you?
Tomorrow, Che Guevara vs. J.M. Barrie!
Article comments
1 - Aaman
I have always found the Foreign Language category a poor measure of world cinema. In fact, the approach of having the country of origin submit a film itself is dumb, closing the door on many other fine films, and leaving it open to politicking.
Fix yr italics, David - nice post