With the Oscars coming up tonight, everyone is talking about what they want to win and what they think will win. The favorites seem to be Avatar and Hurt Locker among others. To my great disappointment almost no one is talking about District 9. I know it came out a while ago (in the summer) and it was definitely hard to watch – not every one’s cup of tea. But it was that very hard-to-watchness of it that I think makes it worthy of an Oscar. It does what great Science Fiction is supposed to do – held up a mirror to humanity. Sometimes the mirror illuminates our greatness and sometimes our darkness. District 9 managed to do both. And it did it with out preaching. It a way that left me feeling drained for days afterwards. To say it was a very powerful movie is an understatement.
Meanwhile, Avatar which is getting all the talk of Oscar nods, was gorgeous and introduced a new way of making movies – in 3D. It really brought 3D technology to a point where it could see wider use. But that’s about all it did. The story was recycled, and full of holes. The acting was decent, not great. The action was even sub-par for James Cameron in my opinion. It should win an Oscar for Visual Effects and perhaps Direction. But not much else! And yet, it’s all anyone seems to be able to talk about. Guess everyone was just that wowed by the 3D. More’s the pity.
