And the Oscar goes to... the rest of the world

And the Oscar goes to... the rest of the world
REUTERS

LOS ANGELES, MARCH 26: Oscar wrapped itself in international colors on Sunday handing five awards, including best picture, to British funded Gladiator, four honors to a Taiwanese film with English subtitles and four more to a US film with Spanish subtitles.

The Academy Awards, the US film industry’s highest honors, cemented the fame of New Zealand-born, Australian-raised Russell Crowe, and sent the career of rising star Benicio del Toro, who hails from Puerto Rico, into orbit. Crowe was named best actor and Del Toro best supporting actor and soon both may carry the title superstar as well. Julia Roberts was named best actress for her work as the sexy, feisty legal assistant in Erin Brockovich, marking the first time the international superstar has won an Oscar.

The 2001 Oscars varied widely in terms of films they honored from epics like Gladiator to an unconventional film like Traffic, giving an air of inclusion into one of the US film industry’s longest running and most visible awards shows.

Backstage, reporters needed translators to answer some of the questions fielded to winners from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, director Ang Lee’s Mandarin-language film that took honors for best foreign language film, original score, art direction and cinematography. Del Toro, winner of best supporting actor for his role as an incorruptible Mexican cop in Traffic thanked people in the United States, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Not to be outdone, Crowe circled the globe with his thank you’s.

“God Bless America. God save the Queen. God defend New Zealand, and thank Christ for Australia,” Crowe said as he fielded questions after winning his award.If anything, this year’s Oscars showed that the world continues to get smaller for the movie industry as Hollywood producers look overseas to fund their cinematicdreams as did Douglas Wick and David Franzoni with Gladiator, and often foreign filmmakers come to the United States to find the seed money for their visions, as did Ang Lee for Crouching Tiger.

Crouching Tiger is an overture for a new era, all boundaries have been crossed ... I’m just so happy for all culture,” said Tan Dun, who won the original score Oscar for his work on the film.

Unlike Peter Pau, who won the cinematographer award for Crouching Tiger and answered several questions in Chinese backstage causing some consternation among reporters Dun had to pause before answering one question in his native tongue because, he said, he had prepared only in English.But the notion of a global cinema market is no joking matter to Hollywood, where increasingly sales often dwarf US ticket sales even. Gladiator, for instance, raked in $187 million in US ticket sales and a whopping $263 million overseas.

Moreover, traditionally subtitled films do not play well for American audiences, but both Crouching Tiger, which is fully subtitled in English and Traffic, which has one-third of its story spoken in Spanish and subtitled in English, scored over $100 million in US box office receipts. Indeed, Crouching Tiger, is the highest grossing foreign language film in the United States ever.

As international as this year’s Oscars were, they were also open to different types of movies and moviemaking styles. And the filmmakers welcomed the diversity of movies being honored.