I find myself having a bit more time this Oscar season, so I’m dusting off an old regular feature I used to write. Every year I break down the Best Picture contenders on the podcast, but I used to complement these pods with blogs writing about films that weren’t nominated for Best Picture, but show up elsewhere. This was something I did for several years back on Live in Limbo, where the podcast originally started at. Twice a week (if my schedule allows it) I will break down the odds that three or so films have to win their categories. Each nomination will be given a Frontrunner, Darkhorse, Longshot or Just Happy To Be There (JHTBT) designation.
Click HERE to read past entries. In this edition I will be talking about No Other Land, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat and The Seed of the Sacred Fig.
No Other Land dir. Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal
The film has one nomination.
- Best Documentary Frontrunner
No Other Land is a landmark film as it pairs a Israeli journalist from Beersheba named Yuval Abraham who crosses the border to report on the atrocities committed by the IDF, with a Palestinian activist Basel Adra from Masafer Yatta, a region in the West Bank. Adra and his community face constant threats of eviction from the IDF under the guise that Israel needs the communities for military training activities, instead after the towns are cleared out they build their own settlements to occupy. Abraham who started crossing the border just to report on the goings on ends up befriending Adra as he is trying to give a voice to the ignored Palestinians back in Israel. We watch as slowly the Palestinians have rights taken away from them like the ability to drive and own cars, build new homes and just generally exist. They capture several people being shot by the IDF just trying to protect their homes from flimsy eviction notices.
The film is without a doubt the most political movie of the year. But despite playing to rave reviews at festivals such as Berlin, Toronto, Vancouver, New York, Sydney and the world over, they were unable to secure US distribution. It’s not surprising given how even the most prominent critics of Israel in the United States still won’t fully condemn their actions and others (including the current administration) giving full support and backing to Israel. The producers of the film had to self distribute the film, which means putting up their own money to rent screens in theaters just to get it seen. This should be one of the biggest locks come Oscar night, but I have a nagging suspicion that there won’t be an insignificant amount of voters who support Israel and will refuse to vote for this movie. In the past the most politically relevant film won out, but I don’t know. Sure I have it listed as a front runner, but don’t discount something like Sugarcane or Porcelain War, that while political are safer picks to the Academy, to squeak out a victory. If it does win, look forward to some squirming guests as Abraham, Adra and the other filmmakers giving an impassioned plea to free Palestine.
I expect No Other Land to go home with 1 win.
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat dir. Johan Grimonprez
The film has one nomination.
- Best Documentary JHTBT
It’s almost a shame this film didn’t also get nominated for Best Editing, while it wouldn’t have won, the editing of this doc was the star of the show. Mind you the Academy also ignored the editing on Nickel Boys, which is a damn shame. Both instances involve more artistic flourishes to add layers to the story that is being told. Soundtrack is mostly about the rise in popularity of Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba and his eventual US and Belgium backed assisination. The film used the popularity of American jazz musicians who were the preeminent cultural figures of the late 1950’s to work as envoys on behalf of the American government to help bring the newly independent African countries to become allies, as an entry point into the politics. The film uses its editing to work as a thesis, splicing and dicing jazz performances from the likes Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone, Ornette Colman and others. Their beats are synced to footage of UN meetings with Nikita Khrushchev constantly criticizing the colonialist nature of America, Belgium and other countries who were meddling in Africa to manituple them for resources. Even the worst person you know can sometimes be right.
The film has much stronger art project vibes, which don’t typically do well at the Academy as voters tend to prefer a more structured narrative with a clean and simple message, even if it is a hot button subject or inherently political. Soundtrack is made solely of archival footage, with no interviews conducted specifically for the film as far as I could tell. It is also the longest doc of the group, for a film that features subject matter that likely isn’t well known and hurts its odds for sure. The politics aren’t as front of mind compared to the other four nominees, which cover topics such as the Gaza conflict, the Ukraine invasion, the reckoning of rape culture and the aftereffects of the residential school system. It is just happy to be there and has no shot of winning, although crazier things have happened.
I expect Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat to go home with 0 wins.
The Seed of the Sacred Fig dir. Mohammad Rasoulof
The film has one nomination.
- Best International Film Longshot
I was overall pretty disappointed with the Best International Film nominees this year having thought the batch ranged between so-so and fine. There were no crops like The Zone of Interest, Perfect Days or The Teachers’ Lounge from last year or Drive My Car, The Worst Person in the World or Lunana: a Yak in the Classroom from three years ago. But then I watched The Seed of the Sacred Fig and found my favourite film of the group of nominees (now if only it was joined by Kneecap and Universal Language I would have been over the moon).
The film centers on an Iranian family, where Iman (Missagh Zareh), the patriarch of the family gets a promotion to be an investigative judge and with it comes increased scrutiny on his family to abide by traditional conservative customs. This does not jibe with his two daughters Rezvan (Mahsa Rostami) who is in college and seeing her friends and classmates participating in rising protests against the dictatorial government and the emerging women’s rights movement and Sana (Setareh Maleki) who is younger and impressionable. The two see the unfiltered look at the protests and police brutality through social media while the state sanctioned news networks sanitize the events. Iman is given a gun by a colleague as a form of protection and when it goes missing at home, his suspicions turn towards his daughters. Things get amped up when Iman gets doxed and the family’s address is posted on social media.
The film is essentially a feature length Chekhov’s Gun situation, where the gun in question is a literal gun. Once it comes into play the family, especially Iman, becomes increasingly paranoid as he wants to protect his family and is under pressure from his superiors to rubber stamp death sentences of protestors. The film highlights the growing dissent within the younger generations who wish to be free from Islamic laws and the older conservative generations who feel safe having less freedoms and a more rigid society. It’s tense and an act of bravery to make such an incendiary film that can be frustrating to watch at times.
Emilia Pérez seemed like the easy front runner to win this award, but in light of recent controversies, I’m Still Here has tied or even surpassed its odds to win. You also can’t discount Flow, which is also nominated in the Best Animated category and a favourite to win there. With the chaos of Pérez, could another film like Sacred Fig potentially sneak in a win? It would be quite the jump and as such I have this film as a long shot.
I expect The Seed of the Sacred Fig to go home with 0 wins.
