Al's Omniflick: Some Oscar Thoughts

Monday, March 3, 2014

Some Oscar Thoughts

The 2014 Oscar telecast didn't offer many surprises. I expected Gravity and 12 Years a Slave to walk away with the lion's share of awards though I was hoping the former's accolades would be relegated to the purely technical. Who cares who wins, really, when noone is naive enough to believe artistic merit has anything to do with the nomination and election processes. I enjoyed Ellen Degeneres as hostess though the overly-frequent mingling with the audience wore out its welcome. Ordering pizza for crowd bordered on the anarchic; something the Oscar telecasts need in bundles, while the attempt to have Ellen wander the aisles, making comments and addressing actors seemed something better-suited for her daytime show. The presentations and acceptance speeches were mostly painless. Jared Leto's acceptance speech addressed too many political issues but it was heartfelt. It makes me wince whenever an acceptance speech cites god as the reason for everything in the recipient's life. Matthew McConaughey's speech was just that. I couldn't help but roll my eyes, hoping the nod to the divine would morph into familial praise. I couldn't remember a time when I actually enjoyed all the performances and the nominated songs. U2 was particularly good, as was Idina Menzel and Pharrell Williams. Everyone bitches about the Oscars being too long but noone ever tries to seriously remedy the problem. I myself have never minded; the Oscar telecast comes but once a year so sitting through the camp and the few inspired moments seems like a mandatory rite. The tribute to Wizard of Oz was fun but I wish the Oscars would have celebrated more classic films. At least we didn't get tacky dance and song numbers. I'm glad 12 Years a Slave came away with the Best Picture award though I still think Inside Llewyn Davis should have nominated in some top awards, including Best Picture. I found it artistically superior to Gravity, which in my mind was a technical achievement but an insipid space drama. Noone will ever be totally satisfied with the winning selections but what fun would the Oscars be if one didn't come away a little disgruntled? I have to say I wasn't really looking forward to the awards this year as I have been in years past. There was something inevitable about the nominations; as if the media had decided in November who the contenders would be. Nothing surprised and so nothing really seemed at stake. In years past I could count on personal hostility to certain pictures or actors nominations but this year, with the exception of Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts and Sandra Bullock's acting nods, I felt too tired or bored with everything leading up to the broadcast to truly care. I can say that one Oscar achievenent this year was the ubiquity of African-descent nominees. Chewetel Ojiofor, Lupita Nyong'o, Steve McQueen, and Barkhad Abdi all make up what must be record nominations for blacks in acting and directorial roles. I hope this becomes a trend. But other than this singular development, everything just seemed to be on auto-pilot. Not that any of it matters; for who can name the winners after a fortnight?

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On DVD

Fury (1936)

Director: Fritz Lang

Though we might normally think of the films M and Metropolis when director Fritz Lang becomes the topic of conversation, less known is the legendary director's work in Hollywood. Having fled the ever-growing menace of Nazi Germany for America in the early 1930s', Lang eventually found himself under contract for MGM.

Though his work in Hollywood is very uneven, one standout is Fury, from 1936. Starring Spencer Tracy and Sylvia Sydney, the film's condemnation of mob justice seems spectacularly daring now, considering lynching was still a reality in Depression-era America. We don't see one black person in the film entire but we know precisely for whom Lang film is sympathetic.

Spencer Tracy plays Joe Wilson, who is arrested in a small town while en route to meet his fiance, Katherine (Sylvia Sydney). Suspected of being part of a kidnapping of a little girl, Wilson is arrested on the flimsiest evidence. While he sits in cell; angry and indignant, Katherine is puzzled as to why her fiance hasn't arrived at their prearranged meeting place.

But Wilson's fortunes take a darker and more dangerous turn when a mob--already on edge--is roused to anger. Egging one another on, the mob moves on the jailhouse where Wilson is being held. As the angry gathering becomes a mass, drawing citizens of the town into their swelling numbers, a lynch-mob begins to form. The sheriff, determined to see due process take its course, refuses their forceful demands. Becoming angrier and angrier and bolder and bolder, the crowd storms the jail, overwhelming the sheriff and his deputies. Unable to unlock the cell doors to reach Wilson, the mob sets the jailhouse ablaze as an alternate method of lynching.

Katherine, having arrived on the scene, faints when she sees flames engulf the cell where her fiance is held.

In spite of the mob acting as a faceless entity, its principle members are brought to trial though the town and the defendants maintain a conspiracy of silence, hoping to escape convictions and censure.

A sure acquittal seems imminent until damning evidence assures their guilt. When the majority of the members receive death sentences, Wilson turns up at his brothers, having survived the fire. Knowing the public is unaware of his survival, he vows to stay in hiding to ensure the mob conspirators are executed.

The scene where Katherine, nearly insane from grief, comes face to face with Joe is a powerful moment in the film. As she slowly recovers from her state, she realizes Joe's vindictive determination to see the mob hang is in itself a great injustice.

The story climaxes during a stirring courtroom scene that brings the fascinating story to a close.

I would have never expected Hollywood to make a statement as powerful as Fury made in 1936. Given the fact that lynchings in America at the time went unpunished, the movie railed bravely, in spite of the main character being white rather than black, against what was then the status quo. The Oxbow Incident would make a similar and commensurately powerful statement seven years later.

The film's willingness to peer into the darker side of American life could be partly attributed to Lang, who co-wrote the story and who was no stranger to exploring the darker side of humanity. Having seen evil flower in his home country, it makes sense Lang would choose to tell this story.

Spencer Tracy and Sylvia Sydney give wonderful, emotionally layered performances. Katherine's near descent into madness is depicted touchingly by Sydney. To see Tracy's mild-mannered Wilson become angry and vengeful is heartbreaking.

Even watching Lang's film on a small screen does little to diminish its power. Weeks after the viewing, I still can't shake its indelible images or its angry indictment of one of America's great crimes. One couldn't devise a better title than one it was given eighty years ago. Fury indeed.