Browse: Home / Our Obligation to the Past

Menu

Skip to content
  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
  • Login

The-SoluteLogo

A Film Site By Lovers of Film

Menu

Skip to content
  • Features
  • Reviews
  • Long Reviews
  • News
  • Articles and Opinions
  • Other Media
  • Disney Byways: Non-Disney Properties on Disney+
  • The Friday Article Roundup: Writer's Blocks
  • Lunch Links: MOOMIN
  • Film on the Internet: BASKET CASE
  • New on DVD and Blu-Ray
Letting the pat teach us about the future, in Spanish

Our Obligation to the Past

Posted By Gillianren on March 8, 2023 in Short Articles | Leave a response

The Academy is a large enough and complex enough group that it’s hard to ascribe a single motivation to it the way you can, and I frequently do, to the people choosing new selections for the National Film Registry. However, once the individual countries have submitted their official entries to the Academy in Best Foreign Language Film, or whatever you choose to call the category, the actual nominees are selected by a committee. The Academy won’t say how many people are in the committee that establishes the short list or the committee that determines the nominees. However, it seems likely that it’s a small enough group so that this aspect of the Academy, if nothing else, can have goals and an agenda. And this year, it seems probable that the committee wants us to understand that we have a responsibility to history.

The frontrunner is the depressing slog that is All Quiet on the Western Front. (It’s good, but it’s also a depressing slog. It can be two things.) It’s the story of the futility of war giving as an example one of the most futile wars in history. The one thing the film does that the book, and previous adaptations, do not, is show the fact that the futility ran all the way to the top. World War I was a waste, and not only is it a waste that echoes to this day, it’s a waste that we’ve never really come to terms with. If we had taken responsibility instead of assigning blame a century ago, so much of what has gone wrong since then would not have happened.

Meanwhile, the in my opinion considerably better Argentina, 1985 is about how we take responsibility. What does that look like? We are given the voices of those harmed by the military dictatorship of Argentina. Those who were themselves assaulted, tortured, and so forth. Those whose loved ones were murdered or “disappeared.” And those who were in charge in those days are still broadly in charge during the days of the trial. Many officers in the military believed that, if the generals and admirals were held responsible for their actions, that might mean they’d be held responsible for their actions as well.

I’m not all the way caught up on the race. But even just reading plot summaries of the other three makes it clear that the committee is asking questions about how we see the world and what we owe others for our actions. It suggests that we cannot move forward without acknowledging and atoning for the sins of our past—and that we must move forward, and that not doing so is damaging to our future. It’s possible that other, better films may have been swept aside in the drive to make this specific point, but let’s be fair; the way the nominees are chosen pretty well guarantees that some of the best movies from countries outside the US are not even considered. It’s still better work than the rest of the Academy is doing.

If the secretive cabal responsible for the nominees in Best Foreign Language Film are the most socially progressive branch of the Academy, well, that’s surprising but something I guess we’ll live with. It doesn’t tell us who’s going to win on Sunday, as voting is open to any Academy member who screens the movies in the theatre. Even my kids know that the Academy can make some weird choices, and they haven’t been paying attention for anywhere near as long as I have. Then again, they haven’t seen any of the nominees. We’ll see if the trend continues as they age and if the committee continues to have the capacity for snark of the Library of Congress.

Help me afford to rent the last couple of nominees I’ll have to pay for by supporting my Patreon or Ko-fi!

Posted in Short Articles | Tagged 2022 Oscars, Foreign Language Films

About the Author

gillianmadeira@hotmail.com'

Gillianren

Gillianren is a forty-something bipolar woman living in the Pacific Northwest after growing up in Los Angeles County. She and her boyfriend have one son and one daughter, and she gave a daughter up for adoption. She fills her days by watching her local library system’s DVD collection in alphabetical order, watching everything that looks interesting. She particularly enjoys pre-Code films, blaxploitation, and live-action Disney movies of the ’60s and ’70s. She has a Patreon account at https://www.patreon.com/gillianren

Related Posts

Wearing their best.The 94th Academy Awards Ceremony Live Thread→

Film on the Disc: LAW OF DESIRE→

Film on the Disc: MATADOR→

RAW→

  • Comments
  • Popular
  • Most Recent
  • j*****@yahoo.com'
    mr_apollo on Year of the Month: Mon OncleWonderful piece, Sam. It's made…
  • j*****@yahoo.com'
    mr_apollo on Year of the Month: Mon OncleFellow heretic here. I've never…
  • n***********@gmail.com'
    Ruck Cohlchez on Film on the Internet: AN AMERICAN CRIMEI wouldn't have called it…
  • j***********@gmail.com'
    Son of Griff on LIFE ITSELFGlad to hear back from…
  • n*********@gmail.com'
    Jake Gittes on Film on the Internet: AN AMERICAN CRIMEThis is the single most…
  • “The End” of SAVAGES

    33861 views / Posted November 10, 2014
  • What the fuck did I just watch? SPHERE

    27453 views / Posted March 19, 2015
  • The Untalented Mr. Ripley: The Craft of Standup Comedy and the Non-Comedy of TOM MYERS

    25068 views / Posted June 26, 2018
  • Scenic Routes: SHOWGIRLS (1995)

    20099 views / Posted November 20, 2014
  • Yvonne, or: CASABLANCA In One Character and Three Scenes

    11142 views / Posted August 21, 2014
  • My face on seeing the "recently added"

    Disney Byways: Non-Disney Properties on Disney+

    March 24, 2023 / Gillianren
  • Oh, to have the straight line just hovering over your shoulder for when you need it.

    The Friday Article Roundup: Writer’s Blocks

    March 24, 2023 / The Ploughman
  • This was a tough one to find a properly formatted header image for.

    Lunch Links: MOOMIN

    March 23, 2023 / The Ploughman
  • Film on the Internet: BASKET CASE

    March 22, 2023 / ZoeZ
  • New on DVD and Blu-Ray

    March 21, 2023 / Greta Taylor

Last Tweets

  • Disney Byways: Non-Disney Properties on Disney+ - https://t.co/NNBet9OWrd, 11 hours ago
  • The Friday Article Roundup: Writer’s Blocks - https://t.co/3a4Sy0roVA, 23 hours ago
  • The witty and bittersweet short film MOOMIN doesn't require a smartphone to watch, but it helps. https://t.co/gMMYZWtxgb, Mar 23

©2014 - 2016 The-Solute | Hosted, Developed and Maintained by Bellingham WP LogoBellinghamWP.com.

Menu

  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
  • Login
Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!