Intermission: Toned-down Oscars offers surprises with Polanski, Kidman

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Jim Wunderle works at Associated Video Producers and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.|ret||ret||tab|

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On March 23, Oscar turned 75. And the diamond jubilee for the little bald man could not have been any weirder. The "elite left" of Hollywood toned down their act, but a few surprises were quite surprising, indeed.|ret||ret||tab|

Show business types have been taking it on the chin of late because of their outspoken opposition to world events. At any rate, politics were taboo at Oscar 75, and only outspoken director Michael Moore, accepting the award for his brilliant documentary "Bowling for Columbine," made any attempt at broaching the subject. His succinct speech was met with a rally of boos and hisses. |ret||ret||tab|

So much for the Hollywood left. Anyone who saw, or more importantly absorbed, Moore's film may have been a bit more understanding of his viewpoint. |ret||ret||tab|

But I'm glad they toned down the whole affair. It is always way too long anyway, and the fact they got rid of the red carpet arrival ceremony should be considered good judgment in any political climate.|ret||ret||tab|

These aspects of the ceremony were well-known in advance. The real shockers came in some of the awards themselves.|ret||ret||tab|

"Chicago" was a lock on all the major Oscar categories. Hollywood can always prove that when the going gets tough, the folks love a musical even a rather dark one like "Chicago." So the fact that it took Best Picture, Art Direction, Editing and Costume Design came as no surprise. But Hollywood loves, more than anything, to pat itself on the back, and "Chicago" was a film tailor made for such. To be fair, it was a great movie and deserved the accolades bestowed upon it, no matter how obvious.|ret||ret||tab|

The weirdest moments came when Roman Polanski's film, "The Pianist," started getting its due. It's one of the most affecting, and effective, films of the last decade, a sad labor of love for Polanski, who himself lost family in concentration camps, but no one (outside of the folks in the Academy, apparently) expected this to take any major awards.|ret||ret||tab|

Roman Polanski is a Hollywood exile, prevented from coming back to America by an outstanding statutory rape charge from decades ago. He's definitely not the kind of filmmaker Hollywood wants to identify itself with, but he managed to take the Oscar for Best Director, and leading man Adrien Brody, a newcomer to big-business film, took the prize for Best Actor.|ret||ret||tab|

Critics thought Daniel Day-Lewis deserved the award for his brilliant portrayal of Bill the Butcher in "Gangs of New York," but nearly everyone suspected Jack Nicholson would get it for "About Schmidt."|ret||ret||tab|

Conventional wisdom also thought Martin Scorsese, one of the acknowledged masters of direction in the history of the movies, would finally be rewarded for his work. "Gangs of New York" was a great film, one of truly epic proportions, and Scorsese has been sorely overlooked before. |ret||ret||tab|

"Raging Bull" was voted best film of the 1980s by a wide array of critics but was beaten at Oscar time by Hollywood-favorite Robert Redford for his maudlin family trauma picture "Ordinary People." This time around, Scorsese lost to a truly worthy competitor in Roman Polanski. But the fact that Hollywood would tip its hat to a man it wishes would just go away is a strange twist, indeed. |ret||ret||tab|

And now, too, rap music is surely dead. What surer way for an outlaw art form to be killed than by being rewarded with something so mainstream as an Oscar? Eminem took the statue for "Lose Yourself" from the Curtis Hanson film "8 Mile" and is probably worried sick that his street cred is shot..|ret||ret||tab|

Finally, something that really isn't too surprising. Oscar once again ignored completely, totally, absolutely ignored what was arguably the best film released in 2002. Todd Haynes' "Far From Heaven" is a masterpiece, a movie that should be required watching in film school from this day forward. |ret||ret||tab|

Leading lady Julianne Moore, who crosses lines repeatedly with work in independent films such as "Far From Heaven," "Boogie Nights" and "Safe" and mainstream Hollywood products like "Hannibal" and "Assassins," lives up to the accolades given to her by co-stars who claim she's the best actress working in film today. |ret||ret||tab|

Praise from your peers is probably worth more than the little bald-headed statue Nicole Kidman took home for her work (and nose) in the made-for-Hollywood-back-patting film "The Hours." Don't get me wrong, I loved that movie, and Kidman was great. It's just that every once in a while, one really wants to see the person who actually deserves the award go home with it. |ret||ret||tab|

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