Eye on the Oscars: Documentary.
Eye on the Oscars: Documentary. Nominees: The analysis -- A decade ago, much of the chatter at Oscar season centered on the documentary film award. The Academy, critics complained, had blithely overlooked some of the most notable and popular films in order to nominate the tried, the true, the obscure and, above all, the staid.
That isn't the case today as the genre emerges from the moviegoing margins to become one of the most popular among the masses. This year is such a good one for documentary film it's not surprising that the crowd-pleasing MAD HOT BALLROOM and the critically acclaimed GRIZZLY MAN failed to make the Oscar cut by a few votes. Even if they had been nominated, it's clear that the French doc MARCH OF PENGUINS remains the front-runner.
Still, those Antarctic birds have plenty of competition. There's the timely ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM which recounts the biggest scandal since Teapot Dome, showing how the energy company bilked both stockholders and everyday consumers. The court case is under way even as the Oscar ballots go out.
Then there's MURDERBALL about quadriplegics who play full-contact rugby in wheelchairs and overcome numerous obstacles to compete in the Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece. Mixing sports thrills and medical uplift, it's quite a show.
A dark horse if there ever was one, STREET FIGHT follows the 2002 mayoral race in Newark, N.J., in which bright newcomer Cory Booker attempted to unseat longtime mayor Sharpe James and faced no end of trouble. So did filmmaker Marshall Curry, in whose path James placed obstacle after obstacle.
Finally, there's DARWIN'S NIGHTMARE which deals with the African nation of Tanzania. Despite the worldwide exports of fish caught by its peasant population, the country remains poor and hovering on the brink of political unrest. Putting aside the clear lead of "Penguins," it's quite a contest among worthwhile works. [Variety.com]
