Oscar nominations reveal Hollywood’s Latino accent

This year’s Academy Awards could easily be called “The Latino Oscars.” Latino filmmakers have been nominated across several categories, and that’s cause for celebration. It’s also the perfect time to encourage more Latinos to get in front of, and behind, the camera.

Part of the credit goes to screenwriters who have created more complex Latino characters, resulting in stronger, often award-winning performances.

One Latino screenwriter making a name for himself is Jose Rivera, who penned the screenplay for the 2004 Che Guevara biopic “The Motorcycle Diaries,” starring Gael Garcia Bernal.

This year, “Babel,” written by Guillermo Arriaga, leads the charge with seven Academy Award nominations. It has garnered best director accolades for director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and best original score honors for composer Gustavo Santaolalla, a highly regarded veteran music producer. In addition to being in the running for best original screenplay, “Babel” is in contention for the highest award, best motion picture of the year.

Hollywood veteran Adriana Barraza is nominated for best supporting actress for her role in “Babel.” She plays a devoted nanny who risks her life for the children in her care, and is ultimately deported.

“Children of Men,” directed and co-written by Alfonso Cuaron, has three nominations, including nods for best film editing, adapted screenplay and cinematography.

Even in lesser-known categories, Latinos are making their mark.

The best live-action short film category has two entries by Latinos, “Binta Y La Gran Idea (Binta and the Great Idea),” by Javier Fesser and Luis Manso, and “Eramos Pocos (One Too Many),” by Borja Cobeaga.

Imports are also having an impact in Hollywood.

A Mexican film called “Pan’s Labyrinth” is squarely on the path to Oscar gold with six nominations, including best art direction, makeup, original score, cinematography, best foreign language film and best original screenplay, written by Guillermo del Toro.

These choice roles for Latinos seem to happen more when Latinos are behind the scenes to write stories that capture the complexities and subtleties of life in the United States. As a result, many of these scripts lead to high-caliber performances.

One Latino filmmaker has almost single-handedly changed the cinematic landscape in the last 20 years: Pedro Almodovar. The Spanish director has written and directed some of the most celebrated Latino films of his generation. In the process, he made superstars out of Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz. His latest, “Volver,” for which Cruz received a best actress Oscar nod, is another example of how having Latinos behind the cameras can yield stellar performances in front of the camera.

The next generation of Latino filmmakers is coming up fast, as this year’s Sundance Film Festival made clear. Two Latin American movies won top prizes: writer-director Christopher Zalla’s “Padre Nuestro (Our Father),” an immigrant drama, won the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize, and Jason Kohn’s “Manda Bala (Send a Bullet),” a story of corruption in Brazil, won the Documentary Grand Jury Prize and the cinematography prize.

As an avid movie buff and proud Latina, I’ll be watching the Oscars on Feb. 25, and cheering for the Latino filmmakers who are making excellent films while they make history.

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ABOUT THE WRITER
Juleyka Lantigua is a writer for Progressive Media Project, a source of liberal commentary on domestic and international issues; it is affiliated with The Progressive magazine.