Tomorrow night is ‘The Oscars’. Not just the Oscars but the 89th year since Oscar made his first appearance. In 1929 on May 16th the first Oscars were held. They lasted 15 minutes and 270 people watched! I am already anticipating settling down to watch the show. Well, my version will be pvr’d as I have a movie to see at the church first. But, there I will be in front of my television. Yes, my eyes will roll at some of the thank you speeches and my mouth will drop when I see some of the outfits, but mostly I will be curious to see how the movies fared based on the voters.
This year, unlike some, I have seen several of the shows in the running. Which is pretty good considering I don’t live in a cosmopolitan, urban setting. But, we do have a great little movie theatre here in Bracebridge and they do a fabulous job of bringing in the big name movies. I have my favourites in the running and so I will be curious if Gary Oldham does win Best Actor for “The Darkest Hour” and if Frances McDormand gets the nod for “Three Billboards”. I thought their performances in each of those movies was outstanding.
Not everyone is a movie buff but I love to ‘go to the show’. Some of the movies this year, like “Three Billboards” and “I, Tonya” were pretty gritty and hard to watch at times but I also see in each of them reason to ponder and reflect. Those two in particular had theological themes including good and evil, forgiveness and redemption.
Cinema as an art form can that take us beyond our own experience and touch something deep in our soul. Movies can showcase the human experience. A good movie makes us laugh, makes us cry and makes us think.
Tomorrow night the Oscars will be all about the glitz and glamour. Some will try to make political statements and some will succeed in their intent but mostly it is about the red carpet and self adulation. Oh, and money!! Nonetheless I will be settled on my couch to see it all because for all the entertainment factor there is also the opportunity with cinema to change how people think. That can be a good thing.
