A million butterflies subsided inside the stomach of fans as they let off let a sigh a relief after Leonardo Dicaprio finally received his best actor award at the 88th Academy awards for 'The Revenant'. Not that, it is Leo's best work till date but given the plethora of work that he has done over the years, it seemed almost unfair that he didn't receive it earlier.
'The Revenant' also earned a successive best director award for Alejandro González Iñárritu. Needless to say about the talent of this Mexican, who burst into the scene with his "Death Trilogy" comprising Amores perros (2000), 21 Grams (2003) and Babel (2006). Though, he has made films such as 'Biutiful (2010) and won the Oscar for Birdman (2014) last year, the death trilogy remains one of his best work.
The Revenant has a revenge story which has been done and dusted around the world, including India but what brings the film alive is its setting in the wilderness of the 1980s, its cinematography and performances. So it is a welcome decision that it didn't win the best film, rather that award went to 'spot light' which depicts the investigative journalism which went into uncovering the sexual abuses of the church.
'Spot light' reminds us about two films which I had watched during my growing up days -- All the President's Men (1976) and The Killing fields (1984). Another film which I liked recently was Kill the Messenger (2014), which also had a similar investigative journalism theme.
I wonder when we will make such films in India. After all, we too had our shares of investigative reporting in the last 60 years.
'Room' and 'The Danish Girl' fetched Brie Larson the Best Actress award and Alicia Vikander the Best Supporting Actress respectively. Both the films have got a thumbs up from the audience and I too want to watch them as soon as possible.
The actor who received the Best Supporting Actor prize for Steven Spielberg's 'Bridge of Spies' is Mark Rylance. Bridge of Spies is a amazing story set in the cold war and has such a power-packed performance from none other than two-time academy award winner Tom Hanks. But yet, it is Rylance who stole the show with his measured portrayal of a soviet spy arrested in US. The film is an extraordinary story of grit and human empathy that leaves you overwhelmed. May be Bollywood too can try out their hands, making a film on the time when KGB agents penetrated India during the 1970s or may be about the forgotten spies who were part of India's covert wars with Pakistan.
Coming back to the Oscars, one film that deserves mentions is Mad Max: Fury Road, the craziest film that I have seen in my life. This reboot of the late 1970s and 1980s, Mad Max was so different from the original and so creative that it made everybody awestruck with its sound design, editing and deservingly, it won a host of technical awards, including Best Editing, Best Costume Design and Best Production Design.
Well, all that is dark in Indian cinema tough. In Bollywood itself, with films such as Talwar, Haider, Gangs of Wasseypur, Neerja, Airlift, Baby and a few others, we too are slowly and steadily trying our hands in telling different stories of life and struggle. We have a treasure trove of good cinema in regional film industry and the Bollywood stalwarts need to encourage and invest in them to help in succeeding our own Oscar dream.
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