The BAFTA’s are passed, and I’m being asked what I was going to comment on, what wasn’t said in the post of the winners. Well, I have a problem with the Best Film winner.
The show was a very enjoyable experience, although I was away on holiday for the weekend, I did get the chance to catch most of it due to consuming too much food and drink throughout the day. Getting too old you know! Enjoyable it was, but not without surprises.
You see I was surprised when Best Director came and Mike Leigh won, as was he. He even mentioned in his speech that he was surprised to have won over such great nominees. From the look on Martin Scorses‘ face when the winner was announced and the clapping ensued, so was he. It really looked like a struggle to get that smile on his face.
The same happened when Leonardo DiCaprio lost Best Actor to Jamie Foxx. Personally I don’t think that one was so surprising, but still DiCaprio had that same struggle to maintain even a glimmer of a smile. He looked genuinely upset, and that word again, surprised.
So when it came time for the Best Film I was most of all surprised when they announced Aviator. How could a movie take Best Film when it hadn’t won any other award all evening. Any award other than that of Best Hair and Make Up.
Now I’m not arguing that it shouldn’t have won, what I am saying is that a movie, any movie, is considered the Best out of all other movies when it doesn’t win Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director, Best Cinematographer, Best Screenplay or even Best Score.
These are key elements of a movie, and when other films are deemed better in all of these areas you wonder why a movie that has failed all of these can be looked upon as the best overall.
Sitting on the train coming home, the general consensus is that if the film consistently came a close second in all these categories, while the winners of each were differently spread from one another, then overall it could possibly win Best Film. That would mean that if another movie won one category it would need to come last or almost last in all the other categories, and the same for the other winners. This would balance out the statistics.
Yet Vera Drake won Best Actress and Best Director (and Best Costume!). That would mean it would have had to be the worst out of all the other categories, and I’m not so sure you could say that of a movie that wins for those two categories that are so integral to a movie.
So what was it? British favouritism? Rewarding British movies over any other nominees? I’m not so sure you could say that. Vera Drake is a very worthy Movie, Director and Actress and quite deserves the win, that does not mean that Aviator does not though.
It does highlight the problems that the various Award Panels face. However I can’t help but feel that Aviator was overlooked for Best Director, and that winning Best Film without any other Awards does seem like a gesture made from this Awards Panel.
