The Politics of Avatar and Hurt Locker - Hype or Real?

One of the major plotlines of this Oscar season has revolved around the politics or lack thereof in The Hurt Locker.  As with most war films it’s difficult not to read some political subtext into Kathryn Bigelow’s masterful film.  Unlike her ex-husband’s film Avatar, Bigelow doesn’t bludgeon her audience with her message.  Whether Bigelow was successful in her attempt to show the dehumanizing aspects of war is debatable, what she does shows is that for even the most modest of people war can change them fundamentally.  Now that the film has reached frontrunner status, it has earned detractors.  Much of this has been highlighted by the recent news that one of the film’s producers has been sending emails asking voters for vote for the film.  Yet, many of these negative voices how come from veterans of our conflict in Iraq.  This only serves to heighten the political nature of the film.

Many of these negative voices have been raised about the realism of what is depicted, despite the so-called “independent” nature of the film; it presents a Hollywood version of war.  Regardless of intentions, the film is still profiting of a conflict in which we are still engaged.  Bigelow can make the point of how her film has anti-war message, the film works because it so exhilarating.  I’m as guilty as anyone for being caught up in the thrill ride; after all it is very well made.  Any political intentions are secondary to the audience identifying with these characters.      

Another point of controversy to arise over the last month is regarding Bigelow’s gender.  Many of the detractors have said she winning her awards based on her gender, rather than her work as a director.  To be sure Bigelow is not one of the top directors working today, but neither is she a complete hack.  As much as her supporters would like to beg to differ, at some level the fact she is a woman is driving their desire to see her win.  Considering no female director has ever won has to play on us at even a subconscious level.  The fact she has made a really good film heightens this desire.  This holds true to both men and women, women who want a support of girl power and guys that some sexiness added to the proceedings.  To be clear I fully support her win, but the work of other directors in this field does not make her a clear favorite and a win by any of them would not be a travesty.

Avatar on the other hand wears its politics on James Cameron’s sleeve.   Cameron’s action films in the past have always relied on underlying social messages to propel them past your average action flick.  With Titanic he extended those messages to class distinction and the arrogance of the rich.  I’m not so sure he is aware of his own arrogance, but seeing as hubris has yet to catch up with him, I think he remains acutely blind to it.  With Avatar he comments further on environmentalism, but also our unifying humanity.  Many have praised its criticism of imperialism and capitalism, others point out that it’s another story of a white man saving a native culture.  These debates make Avatar more controversial while also keeping the spotlight on it, an aspect that should hinder its chances of winning.

We haven’t been treated to such political questions regarding the Best Picture race since 2005 when Crash stole Brokeback’s thunder.  Both liberal films to be sure and the Academy certainly felt like they were being noble in honoring a film about race.  However, the film presents a very simplistic view on race relations, we all have prejudice but can also do great good and for such a large ensemble the audience is never given a chance to connect with many of the characters.   The fact that they passed over the more liberal minded Brokeback Mountain remains a head scratcher.  I’ve never been entirely convinced that its tale of forbidden love is a timeless classic, but the film was still much stronger than the mediocre Crash.      

Wrapping things up, I should note that Avatar is very much a war film, so the political debates remain just as relevant for it as they do for Hurt Locker.  Yet, despite the position of some Hut Locker isn’t a complex art film.  The movie plays out more as pure entertainment than many of the other nominees.  District 9 while highly entertaining is also very political, same holds true for Inglourious Basterds.  Precious has also been the center of political backlash and its focus on an inner-city teen certainly puts a large focus on race and class.  Lastly, The Blind Side has been bashed by many as being a Republican movie.  Of course that it seems to represent a Hollywood understanding of Republicans is rarely discussed.  With just a week to go expect these discussions to increase, and continue after the victor is announced.  

The Hurt Locker wins in England and a Few Other Weekend Thoughts

In somewhat of a surprise The Hurt Locker won today at the BAFTA's beating out An Education. Given the critical success and its British pedigree, I expected An Education to take a win on its home soil. The Aviator was the last film helmed by an American director to win here, this and the six other wins show large support for this American war drama over in England. Only three films this decade have translated a BAFTA win into an Oscar win. Hopefully the American Academy follows the British Academy's lead once more.

This weekend also showed another strong weekend for Avatar as it inched closer to $700 million, and climbed past The Sting on the all-time adjusted gross box office list for fifteenth place. Looking over the list I realized that only two of these films have been released in my lifetime, the other of course being Titanic. Despite what some cynics downplaying the movie's inflated gross due to 3-D sales, this is still an impressive performance. The first memory of a large box office performer was seeing Jurassic Park on Father's Day in 1993, the theatre I went to with my family day had a large dinosaur in the lobby, and I remember standing in line for what felt like hours to get in. Today with bigger theatres and larger screen counts those long lines are quickly becoming a thing of the past.

Oscar Upset in the Works?

We're just over two weeks from the Oscars, with many of the major categories seemingly locked up. However, with the later date of this year's ceremony it's difficult to gauge which direction the buzz is building for certain films and performances. It’s best to try and not to over think certain performances and movies. As much as you want to find an upset in Best Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress races, the truth is all the precursors and buzz point to a foregone conclusion in these races. James Cameron and Quentin Tarantino might pose a threat to Bigelow, but it seems like there is enough support to propel her to victory, regardless of the Best Picture outcome. The two major categories that are most in question remain Best Picture and Best Actress.

Best Actress
Since Bullock's win at the SAG's, people have jumped on the Bullock bandwagon, but her win has never felt that secure. The Blind Side certainly has support as evidenced by its Best Picture nomination, but how deep does that love run? As beloved of an actress as Bullock is, she also lacks the sentiment of being overdue for an Oscar victory. Her SAG win has more to do with the respect she has among all actors, a voting base deeper than that of the actor's branch in the Academy. For many of those voters Bullock is a far fresher face to them than Streep. How deep does that love run outside of the actor's branch?

Despite Streep's two previous victories there seems to be large sentiment that she deserves a third Oscar and her first 27 years. Yet, Streep's performance also comes from a movie that was hardly a critical darling; neither movie seems to be headed to all-time esteem. After comparing these two "lightweight" movies, Streep's performance had garnered more love and praise and that goes a long way in determining a winner. Streep has the further edge in that I expect her to garner more consideration from the other branches (writers, producers, editors, etc) where the Bullock love may not run as deep.

I have read other bloggers that have wondered rather Gabourey Sidibe or Carey Mulligan could win. I won't count out either surprising us with a win, but Sidibe's performance seems to have been lost in the Mo'Nique buzz. Far more likely is Mulligan's chance for a victory Incidents of voter splits have happened in the past (Art Carney beating Jack Nicholson and Al Pacino being the most infamous.) However, I'm most reminded of the Oscars for 2002, when Jack Nicholson and Daniel Day-Lewis were fighting it out for the Best Actor statuette. Yet, in the end Adrien Brody came sweeping in for the surprise win and a kiss of Halle Berry. To that point the only significant win Brody had taken was from the Boston Film Critics, so Brody was barely on the radar come Oscar night. Granted The Pianist gave Chicago a scare by winning Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, indicting some deep love for Polanski's film. An Education does have its strident following, particularly for Mulligan's performance, while remaining a contender in the Adapted Screenplay category. Mulligan is also young and pretty, an attribute that the Academy likes in their lead actresses (in less Katherine Hepburn is involved). Mulligan's performances has its supporters, whether it has enough to win in case of a vote split is unknown.

Best Picture
The Best Picture race is still very much in flux, which is always a good thing. Oscar night is poised to be Avatar vs. The Hurt Locker, a battle of big and small films. Additionally we have ten nominees for the first time in close to 70 years, a decision that has met considerable criticism. Criticism I have found unfounded as the list of nominees includes blockbusters, moderate hits, critical darling and independent hits. Despite the field of ten nominees most people have boiled this down to a two horse race. However, a growing sentiment has arisen that Inglourious Basterds will take the win, or if you listen Kris Tapley over at InContention that Up or Up in the Air are the stealth contenders given the preferential balloting system.

I'm more inclined to side with Kris on this one, as much fun as Basterds is, Tarantino is a still a very divisive filmmaker, which could hurt his film in balloting. This is much my argument against Avatar a film with many lovers, but lacks love across the board. Furthermor, James Cameron's epic has lost buzz since the Globes and even lost some of its box office luster. By the way, I'm less convinced the Globes win means anything, of the last five Best Picture winners only Slumdog Millionaire won at the Globes as well. Yet, The Hurt Locker is hampered by its small gross, something this is somewhat negated by its successful DVD run. Despite its prestige and Oscar's love for the war genre, I never got the feeling of it being an Academy movie either. The movie justly received critical praise and most of the critic awards, but neither did feel like the personal dramas that the Academy tends to favor. If we wanted to predict the win solely on this Precious or Up in the Air would be the likely favorites. Was it so long ago that these two were the favorites?

Given this we must look at the preferential ballot system, which rewards a movie that has a broad range of love not just small pockets of fervor. Up in the Air is far more likely to have broader support than Precious a movie that has garnered considerable criticism since its critical peak. Up is another movie with broad appeal, however it's hampered for being the frontrunner of Animated Film. However, The Hurt Locker has also owns universal love, all three films have been listed towards the tops of many top ten lists. With three movies poistioned with broad support, its difficult to go against the favorite.

What Can Kathryn Bigelow Do Next?

As big of a fan of The Hurt Locker that I am, it puzzles me how quickly people are appointing her as one of our great directors.  She showed off her great skill this past year crafting a heart pounding action picture, but it hasn't been until now that she has received such critical acclaim.  Her earlier films have been mostly neglected as simply action flicks, a claim that could also be levied against The Hurt Locker.  Until now Point Break has been her most notable movie, an entertaining movie but the action genre had better examples in the 90's.  Bigelow is also notable for one of the bigger decades larger bombs in K-19, a film headlined by Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson.  Strange Days was a film also evenly divided by critics, Roger Ebert gave it four stars but many other critics note that it falls short of fleshing out its ideas.  I don't want to rag on her as a director, she takes more risks as a director than many of her male counterparts.  Yes, I'm looking at you Michael Bay and Roland Emmerich.  However, I don't think we need to elevate her to auteur status either. 

Steelbooks

I was lucky enough today to be browsing through DVD's today when I found a steelbook copy of The Departed.  For DVD hounds, steelbooks can be a very hot commodity.  Unfortunately for those in the US most of these DVD's have been sold off to FYE, with a select few chosen for release at Best Buy.  Futureshop in Canada has received several strong steelbook releases including the upcoming Lord of the Rings blu-ray release.  All other releases are on region 2 or 3 which is not particularly helpful to those in North America.  Of course a region-free player is always a solution, but its unfortunate these are released to a broader spectrum.  Recently, The Hurt Locker got the steelbook treatment on Blu-Ray for a Best Buy release that quickly went off the shelves and I returned empty-handed.  There is nothing similarly different about these releases other than that the case is stronger and the artwork more original, but the demand for them still exists regardless of continent. 

Top 10 of 2009

Over the past few weeks of considering 2009 cinema I kept coming to conclusion that it was a weak year of movies. However, after compiling my list I realized while not many movies that approach masterpiece status, there were also many films that were very good. Sadly the year was weak for so called fanboy movies, Watchmen was a large disappointment, while staying true to the source material in terms of plot it never explored the depth and complexity of Alan Moore's graphic novel. Transformers 2 couldn't live up to the first, and while Terminator: Salvation was slightly underrated it also doesn't hold a candle to the first two movies.

Anyway my honorable mentions include: World's Greatest Dad, The Messenger, Star Trek, Zombieland and I Love You, Man.

10. Big Fan

Described as a modern day Marty, Patton Oswalt (to my Sterling brethren - he grew up here), creates a pathetically unlikable character, but also makes us care about his plight. Robert Siegel's direction and script takes us into the world of a character where the New York Giants is the only reality and makes no apologizes for it even at his family's constant begging.

9. Moon

In a year where the Sci-Fi genre saw standout films such as Star Trek and Avatar, Moon stands among the best. Sam Rockwell is terrific in a duel role, where reality and the nature of humanity are questioned. The set design is terrific as the ship's     claustrophobic quarters seem to tighten as Sam becomes increasingly confused. To say much more would give up essential plot elements, but rent this when you get a chance.

8. A Serious Man
After No Country For Old Men, the Coen Brothers went back and created another madcap comedy Burn After Reading, which ranks among the brother's more underrated movies. With A Serious Man the duo crafted perhaps their most personal film, dealing with guilt, chance, role of religion and karma in the life of a 1960's Jewish college professor. I wasn't sure about the movie after first viewing this film, but weeks later the film's abrupt ending stayed with me. Does our suffering matter? Do good things happen for a reason? Certainly not the most accessible Coen Brother's movie and likely not to be as beloved as Fargo, Big Lebowski or Raising Arizona, it will certainly be one of the most discussed.

7. Up
After making their best back to back films with Ratatouille and Wall-E, Pixar delivered another strong film with Up. Pixar has certainly never been afraid to take chances focusing on main characters that include a rat, a robot that doesn't talk and now an elderly old man recently widowed. Up takes us on a journey that proves adventure does not discriminate against age and that perhaps our greatest adventure is taking on our wildest dream regardless of who we are. While reverting to more childish action scenes than other recent Pixar film Up still holds as a great movie if just for the first fifteen minutes.

6. The Hangover
Zach Galinfiankis gave perhaps one of the strongest comedic performances since Bill Murray in Ghostbusters. An instantly quotable movie, featuring scenarios that most guys and their 4 men wolfpacks can identify with. More importantly it's a straight up comedy that doesn't need to involve any romantic subplot (aside from needing to get home for a wedding).

5. Inglourious Basterds
I originally had this movie higher on my list, but after re-watching it on DVD the joys of Christoph Waltz's performance and the cathartic violence don't play as well the second time around. That being said the dialogue is well scripted, the production design pops and it remains Tarantino's finest since Pulp Fiction.

4. District 9
Holding up better upon repeated viewings than Inglourious Basterds, District 9 is a great example of a challenging thrilling action movie originating outside of the studio system. Sharlto Copley takes his bureaucrat from an incompetent hack to a heroic bad-ass. Not to mention the socio-political context and the excellent stage action sequences, District 9 is one of the most thrilling times at the movies all year.

3. The Hurt Locker
An art house picture this is not. It is a pulse pounding movie that focuses on the inner workings of a bomb disposal unit in Iraq, and what drives their addiction for danger. One of the more underrated scripts of the year also shows the differences between the characters, with those that fear their job and those that embrace it. Jeremy Renner is terrific as the sergeant leading the team, and Kathryn Bigelow's direction, along with superb editing and cinematography create one of the best movies of the year.

2. Gomorrah
While released on one screen in LA in late 2008, Gomorrah did not get a wider US release until February. Matteo Garrone's documentary style takes the viewer into the world of the Camorra in Naples, introducing five different stories from various levels on the crime syndicate. Terrifying for the vast influence the group has on the Western world, but also incredibly gripping as Garrone explores the consequences a life of crime has on the script's various characters. Gomorrah belongs in the same breath of other mob movies such as The Godfather and Goodfellas.

1. (500) Days of Summer

While not as unconventional as many reviews make this out to be, (500) Days of Summer remains the most enjoyable movie of the year. A romantic comedy that is actually funny while portraying real characters and remaining honest about love. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel are both terrific. Also of key importance is the lack of chemistry the two have together, which is vital for the audience to buy into the story. Its obvious Tom and Summer are not meant for each other, even if Tom feels otherwise. A movie that forces us to look at our own failed relationships, no other movie was as personal or as relatable

1977 vs. 2009 - Does Avatar Go Down Like Star Wars?

In the wake of The Hurt Locker’s big wins at the producers’ guild and directors’ guild, much has been made regarding The Hurt Locker’s indie status and lack of box office compared to that of its main competition Avatar. However, if The Hurt Locker even had modest success at the box office like Crash or No Country For Old Men, I doubt we would be having this conversation. Whereas, come Tuesday evening Avatar will be the highest grossing domestic film not adjusted for inflation. However, how much does this box office draw help Avatar’s chances, and does the lack box office hinder The Hurt Locker’s?

Avatar has the broader appeal helping its cause, nor is it suffering from major critical backlash. Most reviews have been moderately favorable to raves. Meanwhile The Hurt Locker has massive critical support, yet suffered at the box office for being an Iraq War movie, grossing less in its total run than Avatar made this past Saturday alone (14 mil). Every Best Picture winner since 1970 has managed to gross more money then The Hurt Locker, a decided disadvantage even for a movie in a preferred Academy genre. Yet, Avatar’s gross is not the overwhelming advantage that many are claiming. Since 1970 only thirteen Best Picture winners had the highest gross in the nominee field, and only seven of those were the highest grossing movie of the year. Box office extravaganzas such as Jaws, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. and The Sixth Sense lost out in the Best Picture race. Even The Dark Knight couldn’t manage a nomination last year, despite strong critical and commercial support. Quite simply being the box office story of the year will not always bring home Oscar gold like Forrest Gump or Titanic.

In 1977, George Lucas released Star Wars, bringing to life the biggest film series of all time and birthing a whole new geek culture. Meanwhile, Woody Allen had released Annie Hall to a moderately successful 38 million, a number good enough to earn the honor of the lowest grossing Academy winner since 1970. In terms of the awards circuit, the race certainly played out differently than the current race. Neither Annie Hall nor Star Wars won the Golden Globe. Annie Hall won with the New York Film Critics, while Star Wars took the prize in L.A. More importantly Woody Allen beat George Lucas at the DGA’s, cementing his film’s success at the Oscar’s. Star Wars enjoyed larger commercial support, yet it had to suffer from the Academy‘s Sci-Fi bias. Even 2001, was largely ignored at the time of its release and still gaining its reputation as the gold standard of the genre. Fast forward thirty years and we have another supposed breakthrough in the genre with Avatar, even if that breakthrough has more to do with the technology employed as opposed to a breakthrough in storytelling.

In contrast Annie Hall and The Hurt Locker are smaller films enjoying critical consensus, Annie Hall’s box office was more significant than Locker’s meager total. Both films also focus on a hand full of characters, exploring their relationship with each other; While both lacked large box office totals, neither could one accurately describe them as art house pedigree as well (though there are those who will tell you differently). Both movies are firmly planted as genre films themselves, romantic comedy and a hybrid action/war film. Both genres have experienced some success at the Oscars Patton, Platoon, Shakespeare in Love and It Happened One Night all winning Oscar’s top prize. Both also enjoyed great critical support, with Annie Hall cited among Woody Allen’s best and The Hurt Locker the best reviewed war film since Saving Private Ryan. If anything The Hurt Locker’s lack of box office success is a result of the public avoiding movies about Iraq, even one without the politics that have bogged recent titles such as Rendition, Stop-Loss and In the Valley of Elah.

Whether any of this translates to Oscar success for The Hurt Locker remains to be seen, but its lack of box office success should not be a hindrance. Like Annie Hall, The Hurt Locker has been noted as a paradigm of its genre. While Oscar does exhibit a tendency to eschew genre films, The Hurt Locker is in a favored genre, while Avatar finds itself in a genre typically shunned by voters. With the Academy’s growing propensity to award films with more perceived pedigree, The Hurt Locker should have the inside edge to Hollywood’s top prize. Of course come March 7th, the Academy might just have to show their undying love for the King of the World.