I'm Puzzled Why The Oscars Ignored This

Rating: 8/10 (14 April 2015)

I remember seeing the trailers for RUSH when it was just about to hit the cinemas in the early Autumn of 2013 and thinking it was going to be a major contender for the Oscars . This is the type of movie the Academy Awards love in theory . True life story with actors playing true life people and at the heart of the story rivalry where men risk their lives to show they're better than their rival . On top of that from what you're able to glean from the trailers this is a very proficient film from a technical point of view and I had this down as walking off with the Oscar for editing and sound . Therefore I was totally shocked that the film did not receive a single nomination when the nominations were revealed at the start of 2014 . True 2013 was an exceptional year for films but after finally getting round to watching RUSH I'm still at a loss why it didn't pick up more awards and nominations
Now I've got to put my cards on the table and say motor sport doesn't interest me in the slightest . Formula one is the personification of "spectator sport" and totally uninvolving . If you or I were to drive a car a couple of hundred miles per hour down a stretch of road we'd be looking at a court case . As I said I've no interest in this so called sport but as a child I do vaguely remember the rivalry between James Hunt and Niki Lauda . Of course all the British press were on the side of Hunt due to chauvinism , To be blunt Hunt was the type of man you're going to instinctively hate on every level . A privileged background , an out and out playboy , too handsome by half and uses every opportunity as an absolute sex magnet it's difficult to find any type of likability in him . Add to this he was a success and bingo , you've got a ready made villain . RUSH doesn't waste much time in showing whose side we should take . Lauda isn't exactly short of money himself but with his arrival on the racing circuit we see a very introverted unassuming man who wants to win . Again this single minded will to succeed in sport can be potentially alienating . Speaking as a Brit our sports heroes are flawed , self destructive people and we don't like dominant winners but this film despite the bias doesn't paint either man as black or white and we see two very complex men at the zenith of their careers trying to be champion . It also points out how dangerous F1 racing was back in those days . In the last 20 years three formula one drivers died in races and I had to check to see if "Two drivers being killed every season" wasn't in fact hyperbole and it was indeed a tragic statistic in the mid 1970s
The acting is uniformly superb and never for a moment did I think was watching actors playing roles . Aussie actor Chris Hemsworth is James Hunt and Daniel Bruhl is Niki Lauda . . The races themselves are fast and exciting but the film really concentrates on the drama between two men and has a great sense of time and place . Again I've got to repeat that I was puzzled why it wasn't Oscar nominated in any category and seeing it at last I am now doubly puzzled . It's one of the rare occasions where the IMDb members have found a film underrated and put it in the top 250 movies where as the more prestigious award ceremonies had snubbed it