The List: Oscars Go Global

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We are the world: Babel is one big globalization clich.

Babel

Seven nominations: Best Picture, Director (Alejandro Gonzlez Irritu), Supporting Actress (Adriana Barraza, Rinko Kikuchi), Original Screenplay, Film Editing, Original Score

Global flavor: Of all the movies nominated this year, Babel most directly tackles the highlights and pitfalls of globalization in todays world. Shot in English, Berber, Arabic, Spanish, French, and Japanese, as well as Japanese sign language, this film tells the tales of tenuously connected people in four different countries. Babel shows how easily the wealthy can travel across borders, while the poor and disenfranchised are crushed by those in power. Above all, it shows how miscommunication can lead to tragedy.

FPs verdict: Babel is admirable in its ambitions to tackle several serious social issues at once without sacrificing narrative storytelling. And if the film encourages otherwise navel-gazing moviegoers to think about the world beyond their own, thats great. But Babel is about one inch deep. Its as if the director took every clich about globalization and hurled it at the screen to see what would stick. Vegas oddsmakers figure Babel has a good chance of winning the best picture Oscar. It shouldnt.

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The people’s princess: Stephen Frears queens-eye view of the aftermath of Princess Diana’s death was based on real events.

The Queen

Six nominations: Best Picture, Director (Stephen Frears), Actress (Helen Mirren), Original Screenplay, Costume Design, Original Score

Global flavor: The Queen imagines what life was like for Elizabeth II during the aftermath of Princess Dianas death in 1997. As the flowers and cards pile up at the gates of Buckingham Palace in London, the queen remains at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, stiff upper lip intact, detached from the increasingly critical crowds. Prime Minister Tony Blair eventually convinces the stubborn monarch she must break from royal tradition and publicly acknowledge what the peoples princess meant to the world.

FPs verdict: All hail her majesty Helen Mirren, whose uncanny performance as Elizabeth makes her the favorite to be crowned on Oscar night. The rest of the film is made of strong stuff too, perfectly encapsulating the tension between tradition and modernity. Although a couple of scenes are a tad heavy-handed in their symbolism, The Queen comes across as an exceptionally good BBC production for televisionwhich, if you think about it, is far better than 99 percent of Hollywoods dreck.

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Critics darling: Guillermo del Toros tragic fantasy is a shoe-in for at least one Oscar.

Pans Labyrinth

Six nominations: Best Foreign Language Film, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Art Direction, Makeup, Original Score

Global flavor: Directed by Mexican Guillermo del Toro, Pans Labyrinth, which takes place in the forests of fascist Spain during World War II, tells the story of a 12-year-old girl named Ofelia who loses herself in fairy tales to escape from her cruel stepfather, a bloodthirsty general in Francos army. The film blurs the line between reality and fantasy, while contrasting innocence against corruption and freedom against fear.

FPs verdict: This critics darling is a shoe-in to win the Oscar for best foreign language film. The magic of the fairy tales, juxtaposed against grim scenes of leftist holdouts being slaughtered in wartime Spain, draws viewers deep into Ofelias story as the movie weaves its spell around them. Beautifully and imaginatively filmed, Pans Labyrinth has a great shot at winning Academy Awards for art direction and makeup, too.

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Honorary Japanese: Clint Eastwood broke new ground by directing a war movie from the other side, and in a different language, no less.

Letters from Iwo Jima

Four nominations: Best Picture, Director (Clint Eastwood), Original Screenplay, Sound Editing

Global flavor: While shooting the movie Flags of Our Fathers about the soldiers made famous by a photograph of them hoisting the American flag at Iwo Jima, director Clint Eastwood had a thought: Why not make a movie that shows what the battle was like from the other side? Based on real letters written by solders during the World War II, Letters from Iwo Jima tells the story from the point of view of the Japanese soldiers waiting for the Americans to invade, holed up in caves on what was essentially a suicide mission.

FPs verdict: Many critics have called Letters from Iwo Jima one of the best war movies ever made. It certainly was an unusual task for the all-American Eastwoodmaking a movie from a foreign point of view, and working with an all-Japanese castbut he succeeded in sensitively portraying the importance of collective identity, loyalty, and honor in Japanese culture. The Academy adores Clint Eastwood, but everyone seems to agree that Martin Scorsese will finally get his Oscar for directing The Departed. Although Letters was highly acclaimed and performed well in Japan, its box office haul hasnt been that impressive in the United States. Besides, its in Japanese, and a foreign language film has never won best picture.

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Robbed? Clive Owen deserves an Oscar for his portrayal of a man without hope in a futuristic world gone mad.

Children of Men

Three nominations: Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing

Global flavor: In Children of Men, the year is 2027, and the world is on the verge of total collapse. Wars have torn countries apart, terrorism runs rampant, the environment is fast decaying, and humans have mysteriously stopped reproducing. Unwanted refugees from Africa and Europe are flooding the shores of the United Kingdom, for as a London billboard proclaims, Only Britain soldiers on.

FPs verdict: Bleak, haunting, and brilliant. It was a travesty that Children of Men wasnt nominated for bigger awardsfor Best Picture, for Mexican director Alfonso Cuarns frighteningly plausible vision of the future, and for British actor Clive Owens stellar performance as a man who has given up almost all hope. Hands down, this was 2006s best cinematic attempt to grapple intelligently with the political, social, and economic fears of the world.