NO OSCAR CHANCE FOR 12 YEARS A SLAVE?
Written by Jerry Saravia
In the last twenty-five years of Academy Awards picks, only a handful have won Best Picture that felt justified. I'll mention some off the bat: "Silence of the Lambs," "Unforgiven," "The Departed," "No Country for Old Men," "Slumdog Millionaire," "The Artist" (though "Hugo" is a far greater film) and that is all folks. 1990 shoulda, woulda, coulda been the year of "GoodFellas" but it got swiped by the marvelous Kevin Costner western, "Dances With Wolves" (an important film to be sure but not exactly groundbreaking). 2005 should have been the year of "Brokeback Mountain" but it was eclipsed by the generally cliche-ridden if often galvanizing "Crash" - I sense a love story about two gay cowboys made some Academy members nervous despite the nominations and rewarding Ang Lee as Best Director. 2012 saw Ben Affleck's "Argo" win Best Picture and that was a safe bet, in my view, when up against the unsafe, untidy, chaotic charms of "Silver Linings Playbook" or "Django Unchained" (the latter would not have been my pick for Best Picture anyway).
So what about Best Picture of 2013? As of this writing, the Oscar nominations have not been announced but I sense that Hollywood will go down the safe route, perhaps choosing "American Hustle" with the naked golden boy. "American Hustle" is a safer bet than the wild shenanigans of "Wolf of Wall Street" or the vicious, unflinching look at slavery in "12 Years a Slave." "12 Years a Slave" is a tough, demanding, uncompromising look at slavery as told from the point-of-a-view of a slave (a first in Hollywood history when you consider previously-nominated films about slavery with white protagonists such as 1989's "Glory," which did not win Best Picture that year. Nope, the safe bet that year was "Driving Miss Daisy"). But the severe whippings that Lupita Nyong'o's character, Patsey, undergoes not to mention the virtually painful moment where Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is hung from a tree while trying to place his feet on the ground, so as to not break his neck, are an endurance test for audiences and the Hollywood elite. It is one of the great films of all time, a masterpiece of chilling horror about a time most would like to forget. But an unblinking look at slavery and a black protagonist are sure signs that, despite a Golden Globe win for Best Drama, it will be eclipsed by a safer bet. "American Hustle" may prove to be that as it garnered a lot of attention when it was released, and possibly an apology for the Academy having resisted "Silver Linings Playbook" the year before with a win. I hope I am wrong but in La-La-Land, safe, reassuring, optimistic films often get crowned with jewels.
