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Best Documentary Feature

After a few years of enjoying a simplified Best Documentary category, boiled down to one or two contenders, Oscar prognosticators face a wide open race for this Oscar. One film, Cutie and the Boxer, I think can likely be easily discarded. It focuses on the complex relationship between an old and somewhat obscure Japanese artist, and his younger but aging wife as she tries to unravel herself from under her husband’s influential grip and discover her own artistic voice. Although the movie evokes deep, sincere emotions about two very complex people and about complex subjects of life, ultimately, one cannot help but wonder “Who cares?” about their dysfunctions.

The movie would have worked better as a somewhat fictionalized account, instead of having to compete as a documentary with serious subjects like the Egyptian Revolution and the American War on Terror, which forces the movie to artificially inflate the importance of a somewhat tedious relationship between two cantankerous artists. I guess the “cantankerous artists” line should sound a red flag that the old Academy members will like it, but I refuse to believe that they will actually go for this movie when more important (and even uplifting) pieces are there to be rewarded.

The Square, a worthy contender out of Egypt, follows a group of Egyptians from the fall of the Mubarak region as a result of the Tahir Square revolts, to present day Egypt and military rule after the brief flirtation by the people with the Muslim Brotherhood. In terms of degree of difficulty, this movie, shot over the course of several years and capturing historical and important events as they developed, should win. But it suffers from a fundamental narrative flaw in that it fails to poignantly elucidate the motivations of the protesters it follows. We know they want “democracy” and “freedom.” But what does that mean for them? What is their particular objection to each phase of the revolution or each new regime? A valiant effort, but unless they go for the degree of difficulty aspect, I do not see it winning. Nevertheless, note that The Square won the PGA, which uses a preferential ballot, so this may be a sign of its strength.

My favorite of the year, Dirty Wars, is also unlikely to walk home a winner, mainly because the Academy has steadfastly refused (with one lone exception for Taxi to the Dark Side) to award in this race pieces that deal with the war on terror and/or America’s strategies abroad. Like The Square, “Wars” suffers from a somewhat disjointed and unclear narrative arc. It follows a daring investigative journalist as he travels to the sight of mysterious civilian deaths in Afghanistan. He discovers that the United States and its allies attempted to cover up the deaths, and that discovery leads him to follow in the footsteps of the Joint Special Operations Command and their missions and strikes, including one against a U.S. citizen, in other hot spots of the world. The film is the most interesting and daring of the bunch, but, again, lacks a clearly unifying or overarching theme, or at the least a central plot to cohere around. You feel that the film and subject matter are important, but it is hard to discern why or how it can be distinguished from the other current affairs entry, The Square.

Most pundits think that the front-runner is The Act of Killing, a movie that follows former death-squad members from the Indonesian Government as they attempt to recreate their 50-year-old crimes in a fictionalized film of their own, and the different emotions that these now elderly individuals experience as they embark on this journey. The film has all the trappings of a more stylized documentary: it is a movie about making a movie, but not just any movie, one that recounts horrific genocidal crimes that have gone unpunished by the global community of nations. So the gravitas is definitely there. Yet the main protagonists are so grotesque and so unlikable - they are depicted at times laughing jovially so that even their acts of contrition seem too-little too-late - that it may hurt the film’s chances. But, it must be said that this movie is the critical darling, has won the BAFTA, and I can clearly see that the artistic merit of the movie lies precisely in telling the horrific story and magnificently capturing the transformative power that reenacting the crimes had on the criminals. So it is probably your safest best for your Oscar pool.

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