February 28, 2005 - Special Oscar® Edition
Mel Gibson - Snubbed by "The Academy" ?
As we type this morning-after-the-Academy Awards ceremony (called "The Oscars" by we lay people), we are listening to Live With Regis and Kelly. Kelly Ripa and Regis Philbin are both lamenting about how Martin Scorcese was snubbed by The Academy for his film The Aviator, which is a movie based on the life of Howard Hughes. Leonardo DiCaprio portrayed Howard Hughes, and Cate Blanchett portrayed Katherine Hepburn. The popular morning show "couple" tossed around a few theories - some serious, some not-so-serious - about why director Scorsese was overlooked for the awards (but not for the nominations): he is a New York based director (as opposed to being a California-based director); maybe he had a traffic accident which involved an Academy member, etc.
Hey, at least The Aviator was nominated in some serious categories for an Oscar® - and won some of them! Sadly, we cannot say the same about last year's highest grossing and most provacative - and controversial - motion picture, Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. We don't need to tell you what the movie was about. But we will say that to accuse director Mel Gibson of being anti-Sematic (spelling corrected to "anti-Semitism" at a later date) or of making a film which promotes anti-Sematism (spelling corrected to "anti_Semitism" at a later date) is nothing short of ridiculous. Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew. The film is based on the last 12 hours of his life and is based on the New Testament of the Bible. That's all folks. No anti-Semitism intended.
Sorry, Mel, you were snubbed again. By Regis and Kelly. We didn't hear them complaining about the lack of major nominations for your film, "The Passion of the Christ", which you co-wrote with Benedict Fitzgerald. And which you bankrolled totally on your own. (PHOTO REMOVED) Your film was nominated for the less than stellar categories of cinematography, original score and make-up. And it won none of them. Not even James Caviezel was recognized for his fine protrayal of Jesus.
Perhaps Regis and Kelly commented on Mel Gibson's snubbing during an earlier show. We don't know. But then, would we really expect they of the politically correct to be upset about the snubbing of a film which attempts to accurately portray the Passion and death of Jesus Christ? Christianity and its teachings is not something that the Hollywood community, as a whole, seems to be enamored with of late.
Even more shocking is that "The Passion" was, according to many reports, including a report by UPI Religious Affairs Editor, Uwe Siemon-Netto, which was published on November 26, 2004 (
The Washington Times On-Line), actually booed at a Hollywood screening of films during an pre-Oscar event: (excerpt)
"Sneered at by many, and booed at a recent Hollywood viewing of films that might be candidates for Academy Awards, this movie contributed to a spectacular development unique in the half-millennium since the Reformation."
We at NIPPIES saw The Passion of the Christ. Surely it was worthy of several Academy Award nominations. Mel Gibson definitely, in our opinion, should have been nominated for Best Director. The movie should have been nominated for Best Picture. In an age where reality rules, Mel Gibson got punished, criticized, and general disrespected for bringing a reality-based, unsanitized version of the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ to the silver screen. And the general public around the world applauded him by showing up in record numbers.
We searched the web for buzz about the Mel Gibson snub. And we found a great summation on www.freerepublic.com in a post by a man named Joel C. Rosenberg.
The post was a reprint of an earlier article which appeared in www.TheConservativeRepublican.com.
Joel C. Rosenberg wrote, in part:
"It seems the Oscar this year goes to....religious bigotry.
Hollywood is so repulsed by people of faith it can't even bring itself to consider -- forget reward, just consider -- a powerful, provocative film about the most influential person in the history of mankind."
You can read Mr. Rosenberg's entire post, and the responses it received, by clicking this link:
www.FreeRepublic.com - Mel Gibson Snubbed by "The Academy"
Some of the responses were pure nonsense, referring to the film's lack of relevance to non-religious people and/or the violence depicted in the film. (How could scourging and crucifixion be shown without violence and blood??) One person defended the snubbing of The Passion by stating:
"Was it that good? Really, isn't it like 2 hours of violence?
I'm sure it meant allot to believing Christians, but to me, I would have probably been sickened by the violence."
How's that for irony?
Readers of this post might want to click on the two above links to see how differently posters on "The Conservative Republican" and "Free Republic" reacted to Mr. Rosenberg's opinion.
Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby, which took most of the major awards (Best Actress - Hillary Swank, Best Picture, Best Director - Clint Eastwood, Best Supporting Actor - Morgan Freeman), may or may not have been worthy of the Oscar® sweep it enjoyed. The film has been described as a multi-layered film about relationships and overcoming painful pasts. It was the number one box office draw for a few weeks, and many enjoyed the film. But it is also a 137 minute film about the ??non-violent?? sport of boxing, female boxing is this case, and about right-to-die issue. Hillary Swank's character is injured during a boxing match and chooses to die in Million Dollar Baby, just in case you thought the movie just a feel-good, female version of ROCKY. Million Dollar Baby has a MPAA PG-13 rating based on violence, some disturbing images, thematic material and language. The film has grossed only $64 million dollar so far, but that figure will surely climb after this week.
In comparison, The Passion of the Christ is the #9 all-time box office draw. It took in over $300,000,000.00 in ticket sales during its initial run in movie theatres. (Source of box office information: The Numbers.)
Thus far, it has earned over $610,000,000.00 in worldwide distribution- plus an additional $245 million in DVD and video rentals and sales, according to Joel C. Rosenberg's article in The Conservative Republican which we previously mentioned. That is nearly a $1 billion dollar take- so far.
But the issue here is not money. The issue here is not whether of NOT Clint Eastwood's film deserved to win over The Passion of the Christ. It is about why The Passion of the Christ was not even in the running for the major Academy Awards.
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