THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (BP)–As a critic, I was once again stymied that the content of films received little attention during the past year from either secular reviewers or those who hold movies up for prestigious acclaim such as the Academy Awards.
It is my contention that not only should the technical and artistic elements of a movie be examined, but also the content. For it is the material that gains a film’s rating that says the most about those making movies and those who go to them.
Filmmakers addressed many complex issues in 2001, including drug abuse, family neglect, war, Alzheimer’s disease, and facing one’s own mortality. However, when a film did deliver the emotional goods (“Gosford Park”), it generally incorporated a great deal of objectionable material. Most movies were simply unsuitable for younger family members, or first-time dates, or for anyone weary of the excessive incorporation of profane language (“In The Bedroom”), exploitive sexuality (“Moulin Rouge”) or desensitizing violence (“Training Day”).
Other critics were pleased that out of the five films nominated for Best Picture Oscars, only two were rated R. True, there were fewer R-rated films this past year. Out of 739 films rated last year, 490 received an R from the MPAA. That’s down from 528 R-rated films the previous year.
What observers fail to recognize, however, is the fact that the PG-13 rating has become more accepting of material once deemed suitable only for R-rated films.
Example: In years past, Nicole Kidman’s pushing sensuality to the limit in “Moulin Rouge” would no doubt have garnered an R rating. It contained titillating, bawdy dance routines and an overall erotic feel with doses of perversity and partial nudity.
And it’s not just the residents of Tinseltown who have become more tolerant of a film’s edginess, its profane use of God’s name, or the numbing amount of crudity.
So, too, have we.
“The Lord of Rings” is a prime example. I understand that scholars of Tolkien’s mythic anthology find ethereal messages contained in the books, as if Tolkien was providing Christianity in code. I’ll grant that the film version has a good-versus-evil theme, and it reveals how good men can be tempted by evil.
Sadly, however, I found the allegories overshadowed by one deafening battle after another, plus one gruesome and very frightening-looking ghoul after another. Other than the recent batch of war-themed releases, “The Lord of the Rings” is one of the most violent films I’ve seen in quite some time.
Granted, there’s not much blood in the movie, but there is torture, duels to the death, main characters are killed, nightmarish sequences pop up every time someone puts that ring on, and there are hordes of demonic-looking villains bent on eliminating our little band of wood imps. One such evil group looked like they could scare off the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Weren’t your children spooked? Well, maybe we have evolved into beings that can process any amount of abuse Hollywood puts before our eyes. But is that what our Creator intended for us?
Certainly, there were some good films this past year, but very few great films. I kept hoping for another “Lawrence of Arabia” or “Key Largo.” Thank goodness for video. Because the best film I saw this past year was 1952’s “The Quiet Man.” And you know what? That Academy Award nominee lost to “The Greatest Show On Earth.” And believe me, it wasn’t!
And The Oscar Goes To…
— Best Picture, A BEAUTIFUL MIND
— Best Actor, DENZEL WASHINGTON, Training Day
— Best Actress, HALLE BERRY, Monster’s Ball
— Best Supporting Actor, JIM BROADBENT, Iris
— Best Supporting Actress, JENNIFER CONNELLY, A Beautiful Mind
— Best Director, RON HOWARD, A Beautiful Mind
Other Winners…
— Best Animated Film, SHREK
— Best Foreign Film, NO MAN’S LAND, Bosnia
— Best Original Screenplay, JULIAN FELLOWES, Gosford Park
— Best Adapted Screenplay, AKIVA GOLDSMAN, A Beautiful Mind
— Best Art Direction, CATHERINE MARTIN, and BRIGITTE BROCH (set decoration) Moulin Rouge
— Best Cinematography, ANDREW LESNIE, The Lord of the Rings
— Best Costume Design, CATHERINE MARTIN and ANGUS STRATHIE, Moulin Rouge
— Best Film Editing, PIETRO SCALIA, Black Hawk Down
— Best Sound Editing, GEORGE WATTERS II and CHRISTOPHER BOYES, Pearl Harbor
— Best Visual Effects, JIM RYGIEL, RANDALL WILLIAM COOK, RICHARD TAYLOR and MARK STETSON, The Lord of the Rings
— Best Makeup, PETER OWEN and RICHARD TAYLOR, The Lord of the Rings
— Best Score, HOWARD SHORE, Lord of the Rings
— Best Song, RANDY NEWMAN, “If I Didn’t Have You,” Monsters, Inc.
— Best Sound, MICHAEL MINKLER, MYRON NETTINGA and CHRIS MUNRO, Black Hawk Down
— Best Documentary Feature, MURDER ON A SUNDAY MORNING
— Best Documentary Short, THOTH
— Short Film — Animated, FOR THE BIRDS
— Short Film — Live Action, THE ACCOUNTANT
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