Submissions That Should Be Nominated for an Oscar
Most members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) are while males. They're of Jewish descent. And they can be considered senior citizens. The Academy Awards will be twelve years shy of celebrating its centennial year, but only one woman is the recipient of the Academy Award for Best Director. Many movies that were nominated (for an Oscar) would allude to the Auschwitz. (This year's front runner is another Holocaust tale.) And lots of actors who were nominated (in the acting categories) played disabled characters.
How about the Best Foreign Language Film category? Apart from the Jewish connection, no one can figure out how the Academy voters select the nominees. The 29th Academy Awards marked the first time when the Best Foreign Language Film became a category. (It was an honorary award for eight years. Vittorio De Sica was the first recipient for "Shoeshine".) Eight countries submitted their entries, and Federico Fellini became the first winner for "La Strada". He won three more, making him the most-awarded filmmaker in this category.
The popularity of the Best Foreign Language Film category grew through the decades, such that a record 81 nations submitted their films this year. Meryl Streep might be part of the jury, who would select the nine films that could be part of a shortlist. (The three-time Oscar winner became known for playing different characters with different dialects.) Another set of jury will determine the five nominees, from which one will be honored with the Oscar.
Classics like "The Seventh Seal" were submitted, but they didn't get nominated. (Judging a film could be subjective.) Let's take a look at the other features that were deemed good, but they didn't earn a nod. Let's roll it:
Empire of Passion (1978) by Nagisa ÅŒshima. This is not the sequel to "In the Realm of the Senses". (And those who have seen the controversial feature, and were intrigued by it, would be disappointed.) It was a ghost story, with adultery and murder in the mix. And it was a good one. (Cinematographer Yoshio Miyajima might have seen "Kwaidan", as the use of lighting and fog was craftily done.) ÅŒshima was in a different mood.
The Reader (1988) by Michel Deville. The members of the French Film Academy were never known to please the Academy voters, so some of their choices were unusual. In this case, a reading session with benefits. Director Michel Deville, who also wrote the script, might have thought of boredom and its outcome. Any heavy reader could attest to it, and in this regard, Miou-Miou would make a perfect (reading) companion.
Bandit Queen (1994) by Shekhar Kapur. This biographical film of Phoolan Devi was an ambitious, if not courageous, effort by Kapur. The director of "Elizabeth" and “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”, could be criticized for romanticizing a woman who turned to a life of a crime. Her story would appeal to Westerners, but not the conservative Indian populace. Her rag-to-riches tale would win her lots of sympathizers, but Kapur didn't foresee her violent demise.
301, 302 (1995) by Park Chul-soo. There's more to this simple plot, about two women living next to each other. One is a chef, while the other is an anorexic writer. It's about the sad plight of women and their limited options. And their stories were told in a macabre manner. Only a genius like Park Chul-soo could do it.
Bwana (1996) by Imanol Uribe. Uribe became known for his insightful comedies, and this one might be his best. A taxi driver and his family met two illegal immigrants during their holiday. They came from Africa, and their encounter turned into a xenophobic moment. This was a sad reality on human nature, but Uribe rather looked at it as a figment of imagination. It would be up to viewers.
