Midway through last night’s Academy Awards, the renegade director won the best documentary Oscar for “Bowling for Columbine.” He not only brought one of his producers to the stage with him, but also every other filmmaker in his category. “They’re here in solidarity with me because we like nonfiction,” said Moore in front of 3,000 guests at the Kodak Theatre and hundreds of millions of TV viewers worldwide. “We like nonfiction and we live in fictitious times.” Applause began, and some audience members stood. He went on: “We live in the time where we have fictitious election results that elects a fictitious president. We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons.” The clapping continued, but some boos began, too. “Whether it’s the fictition of duct tape or fictition of orange alerts, we are against this war, Mr. Bush.” Some stars remained standing and others sat, looking stunned. “Shame on you, Mr. Bush, shame on you.” The music grew very loud, ushering Moore off stage.
Time to add another chapter to those Oscar history books.
Four days into a war with Iraq, the Academy Awards went on as scheduled last night, after much talk about a possible postponement or cancellation. And although nearly all of the show’s planned segments avoided talk of the violence abroad, several of the winners got into politics while on the podium–then picked up the topic backstage.
Steve Martin’s clever opening monologue included a couple references to the war. “Everyone been very supportive of me,” he said, “except France and Germany.” As promised, all the presenters stuck to the script (including anti-war activist Susan Sarandon, who only offered the audience a quick peace sign). The first war-related statement of the evening came from winner Chris Cooper, and it was pretty quick. “In light of all the troubles in this world, I wish us all peace,” he said when accepting his best supporting actor award for “Adaptation.” Backstage, he elaborated a bit. “Watching the television today, this situation is constantly changing,” he said, “and as it goes on, I think minds will be changed one way or the other.”
Michael Moore’s massive attack came near the show’s mid-point. He continued his barrage backstage. “We’re over there because they have the second largest supply of oil in the world. Wouldn’t you just respect [Bush] so much more if he went on TV and said that?” he asked. Pushed further, he explained, “This [the Oscars] is probably the first two hours of television this week where the American public haven’t been inundated by generals and retired generals giving analysis and commentary. I would like the U.S. military to withdraw its troops from CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, CNN. Please take the troops off our airwaves so we can get the truth.”
The evening’s very next award was the biggest upset of the night. Adrien Brody won best actor for “The Pianist,” beating out the two frontrunners, “Gangs of New York’s” Daniel Day-Lewis and “About Schmidt’s” Jack Nicholson. Clearly overjoyed by his upset, Brody planted a long, loving kiss on his presenter, a shocked Halle Berry, creating another great moment for the annals of Oscar history. “There comes a time in life when everything seems to make sense–and this is not one of those times,” he told the audience. Then he got serious. “My experiences of making this film made me very aware of the sadness and the dehumanization of people at times of war,” he said. “Whatever you believe in, if it’s God or Allah, may he watch over you and let’s pray for a peaceful and swift resolution.” In the press room half an hour later, Brody continued this thought. “It’s just a very difficult thing to do, to celebrate when there is sadness and conflict in the war … I had not written a speech, but I had been thinking about this for days.”
Pedro Almodovar, the Spanish writer-director who took home a best original screenplay Oscar for “Talk to Her,” also expressed some anti-war sentiment while on-stage. “I also want to dedicate this award to all the people that are raising their voices in favor of peace, respect of human rights, democracy and international legality. All of which are essential qualities to live.” Backstage, he explained to the media (through a translator) that he was embarrassed that Spain’s president supports the current war on Iraq.
Even best actress winner Nicole Kidman–who’s never seemed much of a political animal–managed to slip something about war into her meandering acceptance speech. (How long had she been the frontrunner?) “Why do you come to the Academy Awards when the world is in such turmoil?” she asked. “Because art is important, and because you believe in what you do and you want to honor that.” She continued, “Since 9/11 there’s been a lot of pain, in terms of families losing people, and now with the war, families losing people. And God bless them.” Kidman was the last winner to pass through the press room. When questioned by a reporter about the rumors she had considered not coming to the Oscars because of the global climate, she answered forthrightly. “You wouldn’t be in your right mind if you didn’t wonder,” she said. It’s nice to see Hollywood act so human–even just for one night.
