Sunday, March 05, 2006

Guns and 'Romance' - My Vote For The Best Picture Oscar

I am not being self-congratulatory but the plain truth is I chose the right film between Crash and Brokeback Mountain. I posted this on desicritics.org about 30 minutes before the Oscar ceremony began. (see the link in the title for my original desicrtitics post or read the cross-post below.)

I have seen two Oscar favorites so far, and my own vote goes to Crash. Brokeback Mountain, in spite of being a gay-themed film, did not move me the way Crash does.

I can think of several possible reasons for this --other than the intrinsic merits of these films. In random order: The accents (I think I did not understand one-third of the dialogue) in BM, its slow pace, and the fact that I have seen enough closeted men up-close so that I look at most of them with a clinical detachment.

Crash is also a tension-filled drama compared to BM's dry love story. The former leaves you with some hope, while BM leaves me, as a gay man, neither seething with anger at the homophobia (too subtle) nor does it make me cry buckets. I am not a fan of violence in film but here it was too fleeting to either hurt or outrage me (the way I was outraged by the violation of a woman's body in Crash). I would prefer the docu on the Matthew Shepard case instead.

To me Crash is not just about racial prejudice but also a comment on America's gun culture. I have no knowledge about the situation in the States, but I know that enough discrimination exists on the individual level and there is enough violence involving guns to make them alive issues--they may disappear from the public radar but they do not go away. BM's flag for the gay issue is too underplayed for my liking.

In India, coincidentally, some cases of shootings are in the spotlight again, though unfortunately I am yet to see any debate around gun control. I am of course referring to the cases of Jessica Lal, Priyadarshini Matoo and now the latest Meher Bhargava case.

It's time lawmakers and police officals made it more difficult for people to posses firearms rather than making it more tough to run places of entertainment. Or making it a crime for two men to love each other.

Anyway, here's a nice review of Crash by Philip French of The Guardian (not sure why he calls it Hollywood's last taboo though) and one by desicritic, Shanti.

I seem to prefer Philip French over Peter Bradshaw, but I can't agree with French's lavish praise of BM. I would by and large agree with desicritic Triniman's thoughts on Brokeback Mountain.

With the Oscars just beginning. Crash might just crash Brokeback's party.

6 comments:

Sanjay N Lulla said...

HIya
I dont quite get why you are holding BBM at a distance. Crash was like by many people no doubt and had a good review too. Coming back to the BBM thing. I think it did try to potray the inner turmoil, the self acceptance-reluctance and social discrimination [although no event has been given in the story but only in the words and thoughts of the characters] in a fleeting way. What can you expect from a 21 page story :) Yes I do agree love can be percieved by different people differently. But on the whole it was a good gay themed movie what say you?

Unknown said...

It was a good gay themed movie and it would have been a bonus for the gay community if it had won the best film Oscar. It was just not the better man in the competition, methinks. Have you seen either film? When you do get to see them, let me know your thoughts here.

Sanjay N Lulla said...

Hi
Saw Crash last night, nedless to say dont have to see BBM to compare and think why Crash got the vote! Mine goes to Crash too. A totaly engrossing and griping movie.

Best Regards
Sanjay N

Anonymous said...

hi,

your blog is really interesting...i'm a student in the US and i saw both films...and loved both...although the violence in them made me want to pack my bags and get back, not because there's any less violence in india (my parents are in baroda), but known devils are so much better than unknown ones! personally, i'd love to see brokeback end bollywood-style with a grand wedding, complete with song and dance ;)

but yeah, i've been in the US a year now, and i'm amazed by how easy it is to have been queer in india and not even realize it!

Anonymous said...

Hi,
Using this webpage, i want to write something about priydarshini mattoo...this incident is a tight slap on the face of our 'nation',and we, the eunuchs stand tightlipped, embracing cowardice and hypocrisy..probably waiting for the same thing to happen to ourselves also......

Unknown said...

I am glad you see my point about guns. But I do not appreciate your comment about equating eunuchs and cowardice. Surely, we can move beyond gender stereotypes!