This year’s Oscar nominees know no boundaries

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Salma Hayek announces the nominations for the 79th Academy
Awards held at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
in Beverly Hills, California, January 23, 2007.
(Amanda M. Parks/Abaca Press/MCT)

When the first Academy Awards were handed out in 1929, movies had just begun to talk - and English was their first and practically only language.

Thirty years later, after handing out several “honorary” awards to pictures made outside the United States, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences established a permanent category for foreign-language films, with multiple nominees. The quantity and quality of movies being made around the world was such that they could no longer be relegated to an annual merit badge.

And the nominees for the 79th annual Academy Awards, which were announced last week, suggest international filmmakers and actors can no longer be relegated to one category. This is the most diverse bunch of Oscar hopefuls in the awards’ history, from the acting to technical categories to the biggest race of all - Best Picture - which includes one film in Japanese and another in five languages.

That movie, “Babel,” from the Mexican writing-directing team of Guillermo Arriaga and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (“Amores Perros”), had been expected to draw Oscar attention since its well-received premiere at the Cannes Film Festival last May. But while “Babel’s” nominations for Best Picture, Director and Original Screenplay were not exactly surprising, few could have predicted its two nominations in the acting categories.

Although “Babel’s” ensemble cast is anchored by Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett - two huge stars, both delivering strong, wrenching performances - Academy members ignored them in favor of secondary players Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi.

Until last week, Barraza, who is Mexican, and Kikuchi, who is Japanese, were virtually unknown in the States: Today, they are Oscar nominees for Best Supporting Actress. Ironically, one of their competitors is Blanchett, nominated for “Notes on a Scandal.” But all will probably lose out to another first-time nominee, “Dreamgirls’” Jennifer Hudson, whose rendition of “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going” is reason enough to buy a ticket for the film.

“Dreamgirls,” a lavish, glitzy production made within the studio system, had long been earmarked as the movie to beat for Best Picture this year. But despite a leading eight nominations (including Best Supporting Actor for first-time nominee Eddie Murphy), it didn’t make the cut. Neither did Clint Eastwood’s pedigreed World War II drama “Flags of Our Fathers,” which has Steven Spielberg as a producer and is based on a highly acclaimed nonfiction bestseller.

Instead, it was the Japanese-language “Letters From Iwo Jima,” the “companion” film that Eastwood made almost as an afterthought (and originally wasn’t scheduled to be released until February, as a chaser to “Flags’” envisioned success) that became the Oscar darling, earning Eastwood his fourth nomination for Best Director as well as a slot in the Best Picture race.

Eastwood wasn’t the only major American filmmaker to release a foreign-language movie in 2006: Mel Gibson’s “Apocalypto,” which might have been historically flawed but was a superb piece of adrenalized entertainment, also went the subtitled route - and received three nominations in technical categories.

Pedro Almodovar’s “Volver” got shut out of the Best Foreign Language Film category, but its star, Spanish actress Penelope Cruz, is in the running for Best Actress. “Pan’s Labyrinth,” Mexican filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro’s fantasy-horror masterpiece, did land a spot in the foreign-language category - along with five other nominations, including Best Original Screenplay, Art Direction, Cinematography, Makeup and Score.

A third Mexican filmmaker, Alfonso Cuaron, also received good news last week: His superb sci-fi drama “Children of Men” received three nominations, including Best Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography and Film Editing. In a statement, Del Toro said, “It is especially beautiful to share this moment with my dear friends Alfonso Cuaron and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. This is an unprecedented representation of Spanish-language filmmakers and actors.”

Not just Spanish, though. As recently as a decade ago, the 5,700 members of the Hollywood-centric Academy - a mostly white, male group - were widely criticized for their short-sightedness in spotting worthy films made outside their back yard.

But whether it’s a response to the increasing lack of quality of movies being produced within the studio system, or just a coincidence, this year’s Oscars nominees come close to sporting 20/20 vision.