Nothing but Politics

Rating: 8/10 (11 April 2010)

Mo'nique's statement about the Academy "showing that it can be about the performance and not the politics" was a blatant exception in 2010's Academy Awards ceremony. Acclaiming "The Hurt Locker" as a greater film than "Avatar" - and, for this matter, the even better sci-fi drama "District 9" - is preposterous. It was all about politics, period. The conferred awards were about the United States once again being entangled in a questionable war, and about many young Americans dying in a far country for dubious reasons. It was certainly about the first Oscar winning female director. Ironically, the movie did not need such undeserved appraisal from the Academy members to be respected both for its form and its content. "The Hurt Locker" is a very good movie, unarguably very well planned and executed. Nevertheless, it is an American movie for Americans, as the immediate social and political concerns that its creators planned to convey are not easily transferred to other audiences.