‘The Hurt Locker’ sweeps Oscars,Bigelow creates history

‘The Hurt Locker’,made on a small budget of USD 16 million,bagged the honours for Best Film,Best Original Screenplay for writer Mark Boal,Editing,Sound Editing and Mixing.

58-year-old Bigelow become the first woman to win the Golden Knight in the 82-year-old history of the Academy Awards. The category is dominated by male filmmakers. Only three women have been nominated in the Best Director category –Sofia Coppola,Jane Campion and Lina Wertmuller.

“This really is,there’s no other way to describe it,it’s the moment of a lifetime,” Bigelow said after accepting the Golden Knight amid a standing ovation by the Oscar crowd.

Cameron,who was seated right behind Bigelow,also joined in the applause.

The Academy had no surprises in the four acting categories with first timers Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side),Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart),Mo’Nique (Precious) and Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) winning in the Best Acting and Supporting categories respectively.

‘Avatar’,which was pitted against ‘The Hurt Locker’ with nine nominations,clinched three trophies in technical categories — visual effects,cinematography and art direction.

Unlike last year,when Mumbai-based potboiler ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ walked away with eight Oscars,including trophies for A R Rahman and Resul Pukutty,it was a blank for India this time.

‘Kavi’, a short Hindi film about modern day slavery inIndia,lost out to Danish film ‘The New Tenants’ in the Short Film (Live Action) category.

Bullock,45,edged past veteran actresses Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia),Dame Helen Mirren (The Last Station) and newcomers Carey Mulligan (An Education) and Gabourey Sidibe (Precious) to bag her first Oscar.

The actress was honoured for her real-life inspired role of a Southern homemaker Leigh Anne Tuohy in ‘The Blind Side’,who becomes the foster mother of a troubled African-American teenager and changes his life.

“Did I really earn this,or did I just wear you all down?” joked the actress,popularly known as ‘American Sweetheart’ for her romantic comedies like ‘Miss Congeniality’,’Speed’ and ‘The Proposal’.

Bridges,60,won the Best Actor award for his portrayal of alcoholic country singer Bad Blake in ‘Crazy Heart’. The actor,who has been nominated four times in the past,thanked his “mom and dad” for the trophy.

“I would like to thank my mom and dad for this. I remember my mom taking me to the showbiz parties and dad giving me acting lessons. I am an extension of them and this award is an honour to them,” said Bridges.

African-American actress Mo’Nique won the Supporting Actress award for her role of an abusive mother in ‘Precious’ while Austria’s Christoph Waltz won the supporting actor for his role as Jew-slayer Nazi officer Hans Landa in ‘Inglourious Basterds.’

Mo’Nique,an African-American stand-up comedian,gave an emotionally charged speech after accepting the trophy.

“I thank the Academy for proving that it can be about performance and not the politics,” Mo’Nique said.

Argentina’s film ‘The Secret in Their Eyes’ was a surprise winner in the Best Foreign Film Categories by usurping favourites –Germany’s World War-I drama ‘The White Ribbon’ and France’s ‘A Prophet’.

‘Crazy Heart’ also won in the Best Original Song category for ‘The Weary King (Theme from Crazy Heart).

Disney-Pixar’s film ‘Up’ won the Oscar for the Best Animation Film. It received a second award in the Best Original Score category.

‘Precious’ won its second award for the Best Adapted Screenplay,which went to Geoffrey Fletcher for his adaptation of novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire. The awards are given in 24 categories.

The award for Best Short Film ‘(Animated) went to ‘Logorama’ by Nicolas Schmerkin while ‘Music by Prudence’ byRoger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett won in the Best Documentary (Short Subject) category.

Best Costume Design award went to opulent period drama ‘The Young Victoria’ while the trophy for Best Make-Up went to the futuristic franchise ‘Star Trek’.

The award for the Best Documentary (Feature) went to ‘The Cove’,which depicts the illegal slaughter of Dolphins in Japan.

Interestingly,’The Hurt Locker’ is the first lowest grossing film in Academy history to win six trophies. The film only made USD 21 million at the box office contrary to the record USD 2 billion earnings by ‘Avatar’.

Bigelow’s film had landed in controversy after one of its four producers Nicolas Chartier sent an email urging voters to favour his movie over ‘Avatar’. The Academy barred Chartier from attending the ceremony,saying he broke the rules by directly lobbying for his movie.

The Governor’s award were received by Hollywood veterans,producer-executive John Kalley,Actress Lauren Bacall,producer-director Roger Corman and Cinematographer Gordon Willis.

The Academy also paid tribute to ‘Home Alone’ director John Hughes,Patrick Swayze,’King of Pop’ Michael Jackson,actress Brittany Murphy and Jean Simmons,who passed away recently.