Paladin

Issue date: 3/17/06 Section: Diversions

Media Credit: washingtonpost.com "Crash" won Best Picture of the Year.

The Oscars. The Academy Awards. By whatever name you know the famous awards show of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, disregard it. The Academy has now officially proven itself to be synonymous with any of the most derogatory titles one could imagine. Sure, the festivities started off nice enough with "Wallace and Gromit" picking up a well deserved award for Best Animated Feature and "King Kong" winning recognition for its breathtaking effects. Although Amy Adams lost for Best Supporting Actress for her perfect performance in "Junebug," the show continued with its promising selections of Reese Witherspoon and Philip Seymour Hoffman as the best actors of the year. And then it was time for the big award…
The Best Motion Picture of the Year: "Crash." Really? The Academy wants us as viewers to accept the fact that "Crash" is the best motion picture of the year? Impossible. They want "Crash" to be remembered years from now alongside past winners such as the classic "The Sound of Music," the witty "Annie Hall," the heartbreaking "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," the frightening "The Silence of the Lambs," the perfectly written "American Beauty" and even the recent epic spectacle "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King." Does something sound odd about placing "Crash" alongside these films? It should. "Brokeback Mountain" was clearly the frontrunner and the film most worthy of the prestigious award. Even if it didn't win, "Crash" should not have been the one to take home the prize. Countless other movies should have been nominated instead. What about the visually wonderful "King Kong," which proved that remakes can be just as good as their originals? Or how about the unique "Match Point," which was Woody Allen's big comeback? Maybe "Walk the Line" could have been nominated, as it boasted two of the best performances of the year. Even the simple yet lovable "Junebug" could have filled the fifth slot for Best Picture for its pleasant and realistic look into the life of a southern family.
The Golden Globes had enough sense to award the Best Picture of the Year (Drama) to "Brokeback Mountain" and leave "Crash" off the nominated films list. The following groups also awarded "Brokeback Mountain" the top award of the year: the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the San Francisco Film Critics Circle, the New York Film Critics Circle, the Boston Society of Film Critics, the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association, the London Critics Circle, the Vancouver Film Critics Circle and the Southeastern Film Critics Association. "Brokeback Mountain" also took home the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award, the Independent Spirit Award and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award for Best Picture.

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