Race issues tarnish Oscars

By Jeff Cantwell
Staff Writer

For the first time, the Academy Awards moved to its new venue, the Kodak Theater, a large beautiful setting for Hollywood's big night of self-congratulation.

Unfortunately, the focus wasn't on Whoopi Goldberg's excellent hosting job, truly funny writing for the speakers or the superior Woody Allen stand-up routine, but apparently about slander and race.

Whoopi summed it all up in her opening monologue by saying that there was so much mud thrown this year that everyone looked black.

The buzz about this year's ceremony was that Russell Crowe's bad boy nature would hurt his chances, as well as the fact that an African American hadn't won in 30 years would aid in Denzel Washington's victory.

Unfortunately for everyone, this turned out to be true. What does any of that have to do with the on screen performance?

How did a great actor (Washington) in a mediocre movie manage to beat out another great actor (Crowe) who drove his movie to every other major award it was nominated for? As a movie fan, this disgusts me.

Washington, a spectacular actor who has been snubbed in the past, i.e. "The Hurricane," won best actor for "Training Day." While he may have deserved the award in the past, he didn't this year, but at least he was grateful on stage.

His speech was about his work, his family and his mentor, the honorary Oscar winner Sidney Poitier, who was the first African American to win the best actor award.

Halle Berry immediately pulled a Paltrow after winning Best Actress for "Monster's Ball," and burst into tears. She should have focused more on her movie and her work in the course of her speech. But her emotion was fantastic; she was by far the most worthy this year, even though everyone thought Sissy Spacek was a lock to win. I love that Berry came away with the win.

But the big winner was "A Beautiful Mind," despite the ugly smear campaign against it.

Whoopi, on top of her game this year, made a great joke about this by stating that someone told her the hobbit Frodo Baggins was an anti-Semite.

Ron Howard finally won for Best Director; Jennifer Connelly was recognized for Best Supporting Actress and "A Beautiful Mind" won Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay by Akiva Goldsman.

Heavy favorite "Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring" came away with four wins including Best Original Score, visual effects, cinematography and make-up.

In a surprise win, the awesome Jim Broadbent won Best Supporting actor for "Iris." His role in "Moulin Rouge" alone was good enough to warrant the win, so Ian McKellen's loss seems more bearable.

Randy Newman won the Susan Lucci award this year, finally taking home a statue for Best Song. He has been nominated 16 times, but this is his only win.

Newman thanked the Academy for "giving me so many chances to humiliate myself."

This year, the Oscars were full of new and exciting attractions, such as showing how the films were edited and interviews with actors and directors for the Best Picture montages.

With luck next year they can bring something else new to the table: an award show not laden with slander, propaganda and race issues, but one that celebrates why movie fans shell out millions of dollars every weekend: the magic of cinema.

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Race issues tarnish Oscars

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