In hindsight, awards don't mean anything. Year after year great films are produced and go unnoticed by voters in favor of mediocre awards-bait.
But what's so disappointing, is that a film that is not only great (the best of the year) on ever level, but socially relevant, is being shut out of awards contention. And as I sit here typing these words, maybe that's why "Selma" is being snubbed by all of the guilds (PGA, SAG and now the DGA).
Selma could not have arrived at a better, or worse time. On one hand, its subject matter makes it a timely film given the horrific events in the news surrounding police brutality and people of color in this country. But that same reason is what gives the film its gravitas, because all these years later, we haven't come very far. In fact, you could argue we've gotten worse; with the implementation of social media (largely Twitter), events that surely would have been kept on the down low are now made public almost daily. It's hard to scroll through your feed and not find a tragic death of a minority at the hands of a cop these days. Even harder to find stories where those officers are actually punished for committing a crime.
What makes Selma the film of the year is that director Ava DuVernay took a tired genre (biopics, in a year filled with them) and breathed some much needed life into it. What could have been a by the numbers retelling of Martin Luther King Jr.'s life, is instead helmed as a masterful snapshot into the struggle of not just King, but many of the important people behind the Civil Rights Movement, focusing on the march through Selma to Montgomery in 1965. I could not believe I was watching the work of a director who A.) Is only on her 3rd feature film (her first with an actual budget) and B.) Had only a budget of $20 million.
What DuVernay managed to accomplish goes far and above Clint Eastwood and Morten Teldum did in their respective films. There are only 2 directors this year who you could argue are on the same playing field as DuVernay, and they are Richard Linklater and Alejandro González Iñárritu (both recognized by the DGA I may add).
It is entirely possible that DuVernay still gets into Oscar's Best Director lineup on Thursday, given their past (remember when they chose Benh Zeitlin and Michael Hanake over Kathryn Bigelow and Ben Affleck?) and I hope she does. Again, awards don't take away from the quality of a film, nor do they add to it. But when you have an achievement like Selma, it just seems like a slap in the face, and a blatant shutting of the door in the face of a true storytelling talent.
The DGA nominees are as follows:
- Clint Eastwood, "American Sniper"
- Wes Anderson, "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
- Morten Teldum, "The Imitation Game"
- Richard Linklater, "Boyhood"
- Alejandro González Iñárritu, "Birdman"
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