DON’T TAKE IT PERSONALLY

Whoever decides where Kathryn Bigelow will sit for tomorrow’s Oscar ceremony is in on “it.” The red carpet reporters who decide to skip interviewing Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey (producers of An Education) for a quick twenty seconds with James Cameron know “it,” as well.

There are obvious front-runners during awards season no matter what organization is holding the ceremony. You can expect surprises at the SAG Awards, where any actor who made enough last year to buy a used Dodge Neon can vote for his/her favorite candidate. You can expect the unexpected at the BAFTA’s (the British version of the Oscars), where a European dialect is sure to make any actor a voting favorite (congratulations, Colin Firth). Even the Golden Globe Awards, decided by a handful of critics and journalists, have proven to turn heads and bestow statuettes to people who go on to be left out of the Oscar race, entirely (you’re a lucky guy, Robert Downey, Jr.).

What gives you “it” at other ceremonies doesn’t mean much at the Oscars. There’s a formula to success here, and the Academy hardly ever deviates from it. The “it” is all political. It doesn’t matter if you deserve to win – do you deserve to win THIS TIME?

As they mark their ballots each year, stuffy Academy members take political inventory. Have you won before – how recently, and how many times (Meryl, Jack)? Are you overdue for an Oscar (Winslet, Freeman and Scorsese get my drift), having been nominated consistently without a win? Will you be skipped by Oscar this year because we know you’ll be back soon (Leo)? Does the Academy have to recognize you because this is probably the best work you’ll ever do (Julia Roberts, Halle Berry, Sandra Bullock…?). And why does the pity category never transfer over to Best Actor (poor Tom Cruise)?

This year Best Picture is a close race, because politics are slim in the category. It’s between James Cameron’s Avatar and Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker. If you bet a dollar on any of the other eight films in this category and got lucky, you could buy a fancy new refrigerator with your winnings. Cameron’s won in this category before, but it’s been 13 years and he doesn’t make films very often. To be quite honest, the hype that follows Avatar and the assurance it will win here is dangerous. Have we not learned our lesson in handicapping since Shakespeare in Love’s triumph over Saving Private Ryan, or the shock of Crash’s win in 2005?

Bigelow is new to this Oscar thing, and her film has been quietly gaining recognition since its release last summer. She recently won top honors at the Director’s Guild of America Awards. In 60 years, only six times has the DGA winner not gone on to collect Best Picture at the Oscars.

I’m just sayin’.

Should win: The Hurt Locker

Will win: Avatar

- Hillary Smotherman

* For predictions of Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress and Director, go to http://rosebudisa.blogspot.com/2010/03/oscar-edge-who-should-win-who-will.html

A SLICE OF WAR

Few films leave me riveted. This one did. Katherine Bigalow’s slice of life war movie doesn’t confuse itself with political commentary or take sides in the fight. This film doesn’t pretend to answer questions as to why the war is taking place, but instead allows us to walk in the shoes of Bravo Company, as they follow orders and ask themselves, “why do I choose to fight today?”

The Hurt Locker centers around a team of soldiers led by a “bomb tech,” who has the dubious job of dismantling roadside explosives (IED’s). If the team can’t send in a robot to shut down a device - which can be concealed underground, hidden in the trunk of a car, or even in a decaying human body – they send in the tech. The space-like protective suit these guys wear doesn’t ensure survival if there’s an explosion, as we learn in the first ten minutes when Bravo’s tech is killed.

He’s replaced by the rebellious and stubborn, but talented SFC William James (played seamlessly by Jeremy Renner). With over 800 devices safely dismantled, James is determined to get the job done his way. He refuses to use the robot, taking matters into his own hands and dismantling the most threatening bombs without wearing his helmet so he can “die comfortably.”

You could cut through each scene’s palpable tension as pressure builds with every mission in which Bravo’s involved. Nothing distracts from the drama in this film. Ms. Bigalow didn’t deliver an ostentatious, 2 hour music video, nor did she cast big name heavy-hitters in the main roles. With only a few beautiful shots that call attention to her exquisite direction, and two recognizable actors in supporting roles (Guy Pierce and Ralph Fiennes), the movie never shows off.

This film takes a non-compromising look at the day-to-day struggles American men experience being soldiers. Spc. Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) already seems to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, distracting himself with violent video games in his spare time and seeking counsel from a psychologist soldier. After the team survives an explosive strapped to a civilian they can’t rescue, Sgt. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) breaks down and questions the validity of his life.

While his partners air on the side of caution and follow orders, James continues to push the envelope. When a young boy he mistakes as his friend is killed to play host to a body bomb, James seeks revenge – tearing through a local house and threatening innocent citizens. He later orders his team off course of a mission to figure out who may have been responsible for a tank bombing, jeopardizing their lives and causing Eldridge to get injured. These men have wittingly signed up for a situation that gives them no control over their daily lives– and renegade James wants some.

At the end of the day, when the job for which you’ve signed up is filled with fear and uncertainty at every turn, how does one breathe easy? When soldiers normally safely confined to an office decide to take a ride into the field and get killed by IED’s, when enemies strap explosives to innocent civilians as bait and you risk losing your lives to save one; how do you keep up the fight within yourself to keep fighting the war?

Because soldiers don’t quit, these characters go on in different ways. When the sink can’t aptly wash off the blood of battle, James walks fully-clothed into the shower and lets the water turn crimson. When he calls his girlfriend back home and can’t find the words to speak, he simply hangs up. After the team nearly gets killed by the human bait bomb, Sanborn asks James how he “takes the risk” of being the bomb tech. James’ answer: “I don’t think about it.”

The purpose of the plot and the sum of the stories in The Hurt Locker don’t add up to a big blow-out finale. Every second of the movie is fraught with tension – dramatic and action-packed. Its character-driven theme peeks into the fears of the men carrying sniper rifles. It shines a light into the minds of men who dig in the sand to unveil a mess of wires about to destroy everything around them. Why do they do this? For some: duty. For a few: an adrenaline rush. Or maybe because it’s the one thing they really love to do.

The Hurt Locker is recent American filmmaking at its finest, leaving its grip on you long after you return home from the theatre. Poignant and telling, honest and raw, it’ll leave you riveted.

-Hillary Smotherman