By Lubna Abdel-Aziz Sadly, we watched the 81st Academy Awards with a yawn and a ho-hum! This prestigious Hollywood ceremony, touted as the most widely watched television show in the world annually, is slowly being stripped of its old-age glory. Academy members now numbering 5800, have always been a strange lot, with volatile and complex tastes. What to them makes an Academy Award winning film, is open to debate. Their choices have startled us as often as they have comforted us. Between high-brow and low-brow, they have settled mostly into a middle-brow liberal mould that often lacks passion and inspiration. They operate within a narrow window of principles and guidelines that fluctuates the barometer and lowers the bar, year after year. It is even doubtful whether they ever find the time to buy a ticket and sit in a dark movie theatre, filled with the anticipation and excitement of the regular viewer. The glitter and glamour of the red carpet still dazzles the spectators, with their parade of Hollywood's glamourati. We stare with curiosity at the shimmer and glimmer of the best-dressed and best coiffed. What takes place inside the auditorium however, has lost much of its glow and glitter, of the throbbing thrill of years past! The Oscar Show's host is the backbone of the production, providing humour, spontaneity and reassurance. Past hosts have included Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Sir Lawrence Olivier, Rock Hudson, Gene Kelley, Steve Martin, and Johnny Carson. This year's host was actor Hugh Jackman from down under, voted "the sexiest man alive," exercised all the Anglican charm he could muster, to keep the show running smoothly. As predicted, Slumdog Millionaire, an Anglo-Indian half-Bollywood, half- real melodrama, swept all the major awards, taking home seven Oscars out of its ten nominations, including Best Picture. Most of the films nominated this year have hardly been seen. Richard Corliss of Time Magazine claims these films are more suitable for television viewing, and has re-named this year's Oscars, as the new Emmys (TV Awards). The Academy of late has changed venues and rewarded such small unseen productions rather than being swayed by box-office returns, as was customary in past years. Three of the films nominated for Best Picture have hardly made a ripple at the box office with a total gross of $8 million each since their December release. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button had the best showing with a gross of over $120 million. It was rewarded with 13 nominations, but received only three Oscars. Slumdog stole the show from under Button's nose. The Academy loves successful comeback stories, and Mickey Rourke was the overwhelming favourite to win Best Actor, following a hiatus of 15 years of bad judgement and self-destruction. He was overtaken by Sean Penn for his portrayal in Milk, the homosexual elected official Harvey Milk, who was assassinated in his office some years ago. Sean Penn had won recently for Mystic River (2003) and that squeeze seemed to be the only mild surprise of the evening. After six nominations, England's blooming rose Kate Winslet, has finally won her first Oscar. Much like another Cate (Blanchet), Kate never gives a bad performance. In fact she broke the record for being the youngest actress, at 22, to have received two Oscar nominations. She had already won our admiration over a decade ago when she co-starred as the plucky Marianne Dashwood, opposite Emma Thompson, in director Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility (1995), then came Titanic (1997), and all hell broke loose. Her refreshingly healthy, un-emaciated physique, had audiences swooning, and garnered her, her second Oscar nomination. She excells in this year's bravura performance as Hanna, the illiterate Nazi train conductor in The Reader, who had a brief erotic affair with a young boy of 15. The love story serves as a backdrop to revelations of Holocaust crimes -- or is it the other way around!? Director Stephen Daldry gets his third nomination, which makes it a perfect score for him -- three films, three nominations. The first two were Billy Elliot, and The Hours. This is usually the kind of film the Academy goes for, but the public may be getting weary of more Holocaust tales, for it hardly made a dent at the box-office. The electrifying moment of the Oscars was provided by one actor who died a year ago. The late Heath Ledger won Best Supporting Actor for his phenomenal performance of the psychotic joker in Batman: The Dark Knight. Tears and cheers mingled with the applause as 3500 attendees rose to their feet to pay tribute to that immense talent that was lost needlessly. It was not merely a sentimental award, but a well-deserved one. Wrote David Carr of the New York Times: "an incredible performance and an untimely death -- no contest -- no debate." The Australian born actor was only the second in Oscar history to win a posthumous award, the first went to the late British actor Peter Finch for Network. Dark Knight director Chris Nolan expressed all our sentiments with a mix of pride and sadness when he said: "After Heath passed on you saw a hole ripped in the future of cinema." Best Supporting Actress category, usually one of the most competitive as well as the most prestigious was won by Spanish actress Penelope Cruz in Vicki Cristina Barcelona. It would seem that all big-name directors this year were deserving of an Oscar, even if their films were not widely seen. Gus Van Sant's Milk, about an openly gay elected official; Steven Daldry's The Reader, about the guilt felt by the Germany's post-holocaust generation; David Fincher ( Seven, & Fight Club ) offering The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a seamless, faultless epic romance, that is a radical departure from his previous films; Ron Howard's filming of Frost/Nixon, a conversation between TV host David Frost and President Richard Nixon, was remarkable but hardly captivating. The winner in courage alone surpasses them all. Director Danny Boyle took a tiny uplifting story to Mumbai, once known as Bombay, and by letting his street actors use whatever language was suitable, he found a way of wrapping it all up in a neat package that stole your heart with style and charm. Part classic, part Bollywood, Slumdog stole Button 's thunder and made history at the 81st Academy Awards. Oscar is in dire need of rethinking through its purpose and philosophy before it loses altogether its magic and measure of supreme quality that is the crowning glory in any filmmaker's career. The Kodak Theatre in the heart of Hollywood may be adorned by giant golden statuettes and miles of red carpet, but most of the excitement over Oscar night seemed to have taken place outside the theatre rather than inside. When you reach the top, keep climbing -- Zen Aphorism
