This year's awards at the Berlin International Film Festival were marked by eccentricity and justice in more or less equal measure, writes Samir Farid The 58th Berlin International Film Festival closed last Saturday, 16 February, with a spectacular gala evening held at the Berlinale Palast that was attended by 1,600 invited guests. The evening included a screening of the comedy Be Kind Rewind directed by Michel Gondry and a lively musical performance by the jazz trumpeter Till Brönner. Yet, all the glamour of the artistic programme of the closing night notwithstanding, the highlight of the evening was undoubtedly the announcement of the festival's top eight awards, including the much-coveted Golden Bear, for films competing in the main competition, the awards being bestowed this year by a six-member international jury presided over by the Franco-Greek director Costa-Gavras. However, while the members of the jury for this year's competition succeeded in identifying some of the best films screened, they somehow failed to give these films their suitable rewards. In other words, while the jury's choice of films was sound enough, the ranking of the awards was skewed in a manner that does not befit one of the world's top three film festivals. To give one stark example, the festival's top award, the Golden Bear, this year went to the Brazilian film Tropa de elite (The Elite Squad), directed by José Padilha, an eccentric decision at a festival in which three masterpieces -- Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood, Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky and Errol Morris's Standard Operating Procedure -- each of which would have more than merited the festival's Golden Bear, were all in the competition. The fact that none of these three films received the top prize does not in itself constitute a problem: there is, after all, only one top prize in any festival, and many very deserving films have in the past necessarily been passed over. However, a problem does arise from the nature of the Brazilian film that in fact won the Golden Bear. Padilha's The Elite Squad is a decent commercial film, but it cannot be compared to the three masterpieces mentioned above. Indeed, Padilha himself said at the beginning of the festival when asked whether he expected any awards that it was enough for him to have his film in the main competition, which was a first for him. Meanwhile, in the last issue of the Hollywood Reporter, a daily publication issued throughout the ten days of the festival, an overall evaluation of the different entries in the main feature category described The Elite Squad as a film that had lost its way in the competition. However, this eccentric choice notwithstanding, Anderson's There Will Be Blood still received two Silver Bears, one for Anderson himself as Best Director and the other for Jonny Greenwood for his "Outstanding Artistic Contribution (Music)." The distinction between "Best Film" and "Best Director" can often seem quite mysterious, even though this distinction is a standard one employed at most international film festivals. There was nevertheless a feeling in Berlin that the 'Best Director" may have also directed the "Best Film." One wishes There Will Be Blood better luck in the Oscars. Regarding Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky, another powerful competitor for the Golden Bear and the only British entry in this category, this film received the Silver Bear for Best Actress, a well- deserved honour for the unforgettable Sally Hawkins. It was heartening to see the jury drawing attention in this way to a new actress who is sure to rise to ever greater prominence in the years to come. Many critics had expected this award to go to the lead actress in the French film Julia, but in the event Happy-Go-Lucky was the only European entry in the competition to receive any of the top eight awards, this despite the fact that three German, three French and one Italian film were in the competition. As for the third outstanding film at the Berlin Festival, Errol Morris's Standard Operating Procedure, this received the Silver Bear: Grand Jury Prize. Given that this film is an event both in the history of cinema and in the history of the Berlin festival -- it is the first documentary to be screened in competition in the festival's 58-year history -- the award was very much deserved. It is extraordinary how this film manages to express horrendous events, namely the use of torture in US- occupied Iraq, in a beautiful, poignant cinematic style. The film is like a beautiful painting, superbly conceived and executed, even given its subject matter. The festival's other three top awards went to the Chinese film Zuo You (In Love We Trust), which received a Silver Bear for Best Script, the Iranian film Avaze Gonjeshk-ha (Birdsong), which received a Silver Bear for Best Actor (Reza Najie), and the Mexican film Lake Tahoe by Fernando Eimbcke, which received the best feature debut award named after the late founder of the Berlin festival, Alfred Bauer. The fact that four of the festival's top awards went to non-western films was no doubt a commendable gesture on the part of the jury, which perhaps wanted to stress the fact that cinema is the common treasure of all and is not a Eurocentric monopoly. Yet, while the award given the Mexican film was well deserved, and the best script award for the Chinese film Zou You understandable and acceptable, the decision to award Reza Najie the best actor award for his role in Avaze Gonjeshk- ha appeared eccentric, given the superb acting of Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood, Eddie Marsan's role in Happy-Go-Lucky, and the acting of the male lead in Israeli director Amos Kollek's film Restless. All this notwithstanding, this year's edition of the Berlin Festival was as lively and rewarding as ever, and, as if to make up for the disappointments, the award of the Honorary Golden Bear for the Year 2008 to Italian filmmaker Francesco Rosi was something which everybody was happy to agree on. It gave all the participants at the festival the opportunity to salute one of the greatest auteurs in cinema. The Awards of the International Jury Golden Bear for the Best Film": Tropa de elite (The Elite Squad") by José Padilha Silver Bear - The Jury Grand Prix": Standard Operating Procedure " by Errol Morris Silver Bear - Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson" for There Will Be Blood Silver Bear - Best Actress Sally Hawkins" in Happy-Go-Lucky by Mike Leigh Silver Bear - Best Actor: Reza Najie" in Avaze Gonjeshk-ha by Majid Majidi Silver Bear - Outstanding Artistic Contribution (Music): Jonny Greenwood" for There Will Be Blood by Paul Thomas Anderson Silver Bear - Best Script: Wang Xiaoshuai " for Zuo You | In Love We Trust Alfred Bauer Prize: Lake Tahoe" by Fernando Eimbcke Honorary Golden Bear: Italian filmmaker Francesco Rosi
