“Moonlight” wins Best Picture in politically-charged show
“Moonlight,” a drama about a gay man in the inner city, scored best picture at the 89th Academy Awards, beating out the heavily favored “La La Land”. The low-budget film's victory was made even more shocking after presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway mistakenly read out “La La Land” as the victor. Chaos reigned, as the “La La Land” producers took the stage to thank family and colleagues, before Beatty acknowledged that he had been given the wrong envelope and “Moonlight” was crowned the winner.
“La La Land,” a celebration of all things Los Angeles, had seemed like both a hometown favorite and an insurmountable front-runner. It had previously picked up top prizes at the Golden Globes, the Producers Guild and the Directors Guild, and entered the evening with 14 nominations, tying a record set by “Titanic” and “All About Eve”
This year's award wasn't just about an Oscar flub for the ages. It was also one of the most politically-charged telecasts in history, unfolding as much of Hollywood remains opposed to President Donald Trump. Winners and presenters used their time at the podium to vocalise their dissent, decrying the administration and its support of the Muslim ban, the border wall with Mexico, and other right-wing policies. Many A-listers sported pins for organisations like Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union that have been on the frontlines of the culture wars currently roiling the country.
But the telecast wasn't all about tearing down Trump and his ideologies. It was also a celebration of diversity and inclusion, both in the selection of “Moonlight”, a tender coming-of-age story, and in the record-shattering number of black winners who took the stage. “Moonlight” star Tarell Alvin McCraney spoke to the desire to hear from under-represented voices while accepting a best adapted screenplay Oscar, one of three statues that the film won.
“La La Land” didn't go home empty-handed. It still picked up a leading six statues, including one for director Damien Chazelle. The 32-year old became the youngest-ever best director winner in history, and was honoured for helping to revive the musical, a film genre that has fallen out of favor in a movie business obsessed with superheroes and franchises. Best actress winner Emma Stone beat out the likes of Isabelle Huppert (“Elle”) and Meryl Streep (“Florence Foster Jenkins”) to earn her first Oscar for her singing and dancing turn in the film.
Casey Affleck picked up a best actor statue for his role as an emotionally damaged janitor in “Manchester by the Sea”, ahead of Denzel Washington -- who had been favored to win for his work as an abusive patriarch in “Fences”. Affleck's award was one of two for the film, the first Oscars won by Amazon Studios.
Mahershala Ali and Viola Davis nabbed supporting acting honours. Ali was recognised for his work as a sympathetic drug dealer in “Moonlight”, while Davis picked up her first statue for playing a long-suffering wife in “Fences”.
Davis is now the first African-American to win acting prizes at the Oscars, Tonys, and Emmys. Ali broke ground as well, becoming the first Muslim actor win an Oscar.
Host Jimmy Kimmel wasted no time poking fun at the current White House occupant. “This broadcast is being watched live by millions of Americans and around the world in more than 225 countries that now hate us,” he said during his opening monologue. “I want to say thank you to President Trump — remember last year when it seemed like the Oscars were racist?,” he added. “That's gone, thanks to him.”
At times the broadcast played like voices of the opposition, as winners praised the immigrant experience, spoke out about the carnage in Syria, and hailed religious tolerance. The antipathy toward Trump was also evident in the selection of winners. Iranian director Asghar Farhadi picked up an Academy Award for best foreign-language movie for “The Salesman”, but was not present at the ceremony in protest for the president's visa ban for citizens from Iran other Muslim countries. In a statement, Farhadi slammed the policy as inhumane and argued that “dividing the world into the US and our enemies' categories creates fear.”
Ezra Edelman, the director of best feature documentary winner “O.J.: Made in America”, waded into other hot-button issues, using his time at the microphone to dedicate his statue to “… the victims of police violence, police brutality, racially motivated violence and criminal justice.”
In addition to Affleck's win, “Manchester by the Sea” picked up an original screenplay Oscar for Kenneth Lonergan, its writer and director.
Beatty and Dunaway's appearance will be remembered for the best picture do-over, but it had a deeper resonance. The two reunited on stage some fifty years after they helped usher in a new era of cinema with “Bonnie and Clyde” — a kind of filmmaking that was iconoclastic and that brought a new vitality to a form of entertainment that had seemed to be teetering.
Blockbusters like “The Jungle Book” and “Star Wars: Rogue One” were consigned to technical categories. “Zootopia,” was one of the few popular smashes to get awards love on Sunday. The animated allegory about animal cops and small-time crooks battling inter-species prejudices nabbed a best animated feature honor.
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