Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Oscar nominations

So F-9/11 got no nominations, and "Passion" only minor ones. Now that I think about it, that's probably sensible.

F-9/11 was just a political tract, and a dishonest one at that. It wasn't supposed to be entertaining, or even educational (a documentary is supposed to try to be accurate). It was simply an ABB door-hanger: even the DVD release was timed for the election. Not that Hollywood hasn't tried to be political before, but entertainment is job 1 there. F-9/11 wasn't good entertainment.

I haven't seen "The Passion" (am I the only one?), but from talking to the people who went, I think that most of the audience was there to take part in a religious activity: to empathize as deeply as they could with what Jesus did, and use that understanding to rededicate themselves. This is about as far from entertainment as you can get, and I think a lot of the voters realized that trying to give out awards for a religious ceremony might seem tacky.

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