We will have ppl doin this i would say lets just Ignore dem SDM has given us reasons to rejoice and lets do dat..
--- In [email protected], Rahman Fan <balajiluvsmu...@...> wrote: > > Guyz... Your thoughts on this rubbish article please.... Im extremely disappointed with this article.... > > Link to this article: http://in.news.yahoo.com/48/20090224/1241/top-it-shouldn-t-have- won.html > > > "Frankly, I don't think Slumdog Millionaire deserved > the Oscar for best film. And even more frankly, I don't think Resul > Pookutty should have invoked "my country and my civilisation" in his > acceptance speech for best sound mixing. India was not up there in the > Kodak auditorium for approval. It was a British film financed by the > indie subsidiary of an American studio which happened to be set in > India and as a result they could not help but involve Indian actors > (including Indian-origin Britishers) and shoot it in India. We crave > too much for international recognition. A bit too much than is seemly. > Even as all of us go around strutting, pretending to be a superpower.Other > than Slumdog, I have seen only one film out of the other four > nominated. But I've read about all of them. The one that I saw is The > Reader. The subject is far more intellectually challenging, emotionally > moving and morally disturbing than Slumdog can ever hope to be. Not > since A Last Tango In Paris has nudity (both male and female) been so > necessary to a film's narrative, and so non-titillating and so > touching. A film which stretches over 30 years and with essentially > only two characters, and yet a film that is as gripping as a thriller. > It's a film that, as my friend told me, demands and requires to be seen > in one sitting, with no interruption by commercials and visits to the > loo.But look at the themes of the other movies that were > nominated this year. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the love > story of a man who is born as an extreme geriatric and keeps getting > younger and dies as a newborn. Only for a brief period of time are the > man and his beloved around the same compatible age. Of course it's an > impossible concept and completely unbelievable, but it's a high > concept. Milk is about the first openly gay man to be elected to public > office in the United States; Frost/Nixon about the first interview > disgraced US President Richard Nixon gave, to has-been TV journalist > David Frost. For both of them, it is a chance for redemption, for a > somewhat sane life. These are all big themes. I am not doubting > Slumdog's quality as a film in any way. Danny Boyle is one of the most > talented directors around. But comparing Slumdog to The Reader is > almost impossible. It's like comparing A Christmas Carol to Great > Expectations.Scrooge won, little Pip lost. But that's the way it > has been with the Oscars. Sometimes the nominations reflect the mood of > America's liberals, sometimes the winners reflect political > correctness. In 2006, the following five films were nominated: Good > Night and Good Luck, Brokeback Mountain, Crash, Capote and Munich. Good > Night and Good Luck is about a TV broadcaster who took on the > McCarthyist witch hunt in the 1950s; essentially about freedom of the > press. Brokeback Mountain deflated the entire mythology of uber- macho > frontiersmen by portraying a deep homosexual relationship between two > cowboys. Crash interlinked several stories to study racism in all its > forms and in startling ways. Capote was about the gay writer Truman > Capote who travels to the South of the US to write a book on two > multiple murderers. Munich told the story of the Israeli agents who > hunted down the Black September terrorists who killed Israeli athletes > during the Munich Olympics, and asked the question: To take revenge, do > we become as base as the men who are our targets?There's a clear > pattern: anger over the Iraq war, the stifling of the media, the > stranglehold of neo-conservatism, the contempt for minorities. The > denizens of Hollywood were simply reacting to their world as they saw > it. The other major critically-acclaimed movies of that year were > Transamerica, about one man's battle to change his gender, and Syriana, > which told Americans that their nation's policies were largely > responsible for Islamist terrorism.Then there's political > correctness. Gandhi won Best Picture over ET. The Academy decided that > the biopic of a great and influential leader was more "important" than > the woes of a cute alien stranded on our planet. (This incensed Steven > Spielberg so much that he decided to give the Academy the "important" > films they felt comfortable with, and made The Colour Purple - which > didn't win any Oscars - and Schindler's List - which raked them in.) > Tom Hanks won his first best acting Oscar for Philadelphia, as much for > his acting as for being the first major star to portray a gay man > suffering from AIDS. In Hollywood, that's called "courage".So > The Reader can't win. After all, its female protagonist is a former > Auschwitz guard who let 300 Jews burn alive in a locked church. The > film's position on morality is too nuanced for the general Academy > member to grapple with with any success. But Kate Winslet can be given > the award for best actress. By taking this controversial role and > baring her body so naturally for the purposes of art, she has shown > "courage". Milk is about homosexuality, so Sean Penn gets the statuette > for "courage", but not the film. Benjamin Button, which was co- produced > by its star Brad Pitt, is probably seen as too much the case of an > actor showing off, while being aided by more-than-state-of-the art > visual effects. Frost/Nixon? Who's interested?So Slumdog has > won, and we should really rejoice for the six children who acted in it, > for they are the real stars of the film. We should rejoice for AR > Rahman, though the music he has got his two Oscars for is not even of > his average quality, forget his sublime and exhilarating stuff. But the > Academy has decided. But I really think it's a bit too much if we take > this as a victory for Indian cinema. It's a non-Indian film which > happened to have an all-Indian cast. We shoot entire films abroad > nowadays, especially in the US, remember?The writer is the editor of the RPG Group's soon-to-be-launched current affairs and features magazine, 'Open'.." > RegdsBalaji R > > > > Check out the all-new Messenger 9.0! Go to http://in.messenger.yahoo.com/ >
