Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

This year the Oscars didn't broadcast the red carpet arrivals. Some people were saying it was because that would have been the only time for celebrities to make their views heard about the war in Iraq.

However, I did watch the red carpet arrivals anyway, because there was live streaming video from Oscars.com.

On there, I got to see as celebrities pulled up. Now the shot was taken from high up, possibly from a helicopter. The sound of a helicopter was pretty obvious. The camera would zoom in on celebrities as they arrived and show them walking up the red carpet.

A couple female celebrities didn't realize they were being filmed and took that moment to hike up their low-cut dresses.

There were plenty of fans across the street, and they were chanting something I couldn't quite make out. Sometimes it sounded like "U.S.A." and other times it sounded like "We want..." and I couldn't make out the third word. They seemed to respond more favorably to some celebrities.

For example, when Michael Moore showed up, the director of Bowling for Columbine, which later that night would win Best Documentary, they cheered wildly. When Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins showed up and flashed peace signs, they also went wild. When one male celebrity who was difficult to identify held up a sign that read "No War for Oil," they went crazy. I began to wonder if, in addition to the usual celebrity watchers, there were a few antiwar protesters there, as well. The protesters had gathered on a nearby corner but it was far enough from the theater that I understand the celebrities couldn't even seen them.

The only celebrities that got a chance to voice their opinions on the war were those who received awards. And Michael Moore wasted no time in doing so. He invited all his fellow nominees in the documentary field to join him on stage in a show of solidarity.

He said, "On behalf of our producers, Kathleen Glenn and Michael Donovan from Canada, I'd like to thank the Academy for this. (applause) I've invited my fellow documentary nominees on the stage with us. And they are here in solidarity with me because we like nonfiction. We like nonfiction, and we live in fictitious times. We live in a time where we have fictitious election results that elects a fictitious president. (applause) We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war. (applause, boos) for fictitious reasons, whether it's the fiction of duct tape or the fictitious of orange alerts. (Martin Scorcese shown applauding) We are against this war, Mr. Bush. Shame on you, Mr. Bush. Shame on you! (Nicole Kidman shown not applauding) (applause, boos) (music starts playing) And any time you've got the Pope and the Dixie Chicks against you, your time is up. Thank you very much!"

While promoting peace was fine, frank views were clearly not encouraged. Even though special ops in Iraq, according to the Associated Press, have not found the banned chemical weapons supposedly hidden away in Iraq, Americans are still going along with that justification for the war because they can't bear to think otherwise.

The surprise of the evening was Adrian Brody, who won Best Actor for The Pianist. If you chose him in your office pool, you're doing really well right now because he was the dark horse candidate. Everybody thought it was a contest between Jack Nicholson for About Schmidt and Daniel Day Lewis for Gangs of New York, but then Adrian came out of nowhere and won. He was clearly stunned and was immediately pounced upon by his family and friends.

While he claimed he hadn't prepared a speech, he spoke eloquently about the impact of war and how he wanted a peaceful resolution soon.

He said, about receiving his award, "It fills me with great joy, but I'm also filled with a lot of sadness tonight because I'm accepting an award at such a strange time. And you know, my experiences of making this film made me very aware of the sadness and the dehumanization of people at times of war and the repercussions of war. And whomever you believe in, if it's God or Allah, may he watch over you and let's pray for a peaceful and swift resolution. "

For this, he got a standing ovation, which is to say that celebrities who were there did support an end to the war but were, perhaps, afraid to condone a more direct, critical tone.

He continued, "And I have a friend from Queens who's a soldier in Kuwait right now, Tommy Szarabinski. And I hope you and your boys make it back real soon. And God bless you guys, I love you."

Brody wasn't the only award winner to say something about the world conditions. Chris Cooper, who won Best Supporting Actor for Adaptation, spoke out first. At the close of his emotional speech he said, "In light of all the troubles in the world, I wish us all peace."

Nicole Kidman, who won Best Actress for The Hours, made a statement about why she thought it was important that the Oscars go on that year. She received a lot of applause for that.

She said, "I do have to say, it was 'Why do you come to the Academy Awards when the world is in such turmoil?' Because art is important. (applause) And because you believe in what you do, and you want to honor that. And it is a tradition that needs to be upheld. And at the same time, you say there is a lot of problems in the world, and since 9/11 there's been a lot of pain in terms of families losing people and now, with the war, families losing people. And God bless them."

Frank Pierson, the president of the Academy, said, "I want to add something tonight personally and that is to say to all of our men and women overseas, godspeed. And let's get you home soon. (applause) And to the Iraqi people, I say, let's have peace soon and let you live without war."

Pedro Aldomovar, accepting an award for Best Original Screenplay for Talk to Her, said in part, "I also want to dedicate this award to all the people that are raising their voices in favor of peace, respect of human rights, democracy and international legality. All of these are essential qualities to live."

Steve Martin wisely stayed away from any jokes about the conflict and concentrated on making fun of the celebrities. After Michael Moore's acceptance speech, he said, "You should see it backstage right now. It's so sweet. The Teamsters are helping Michael Moore into the trunk of his limo."

Because of the pall of war, the 75th annual Oscars was much less extravagant than one would have expected for a Diamond Jubilee. There were the mandatory film montages of Oscar winners over the years, best films throughout the years, and even Oscars musical numbers. There was no musical number last night, much to everyone's relief. Most of the presenters came out alone, made short remarks and presented the award without any clips from the movies. The exception was for the best picture nominations, clips of which were shown throughout the evening.

The rumors had been that celebrities were planning to go all out, in celebration of the 75th anniversary, returning to classic Hollywood styles. But they stuck to more subdued ensembles, mostly in black, with the exception of a few nominees: Renee Zellweger and Kathy Bates went with red; Julianne Moore wore a strapless jade dress; Queen Latifa opted for a light violet; and Meryl Streep accented her black and silver off-the-shoulder gown with a beautiful jade necklace.

So the Oscars went on, but Hollywood did a soft shoe around the issue of war and tried to match the mood of the country.

As Steve Martin commented at the beginning of the program, "I'm sure you noticed they canceled the lavish red carpet this year. That'll show them!"

Moral:
Hollywood celebrities, like many of us, are ambivalent about the war but united in wanting the violence to stop.

Copyright 2003 by Alyce Wilson
Photo from Oscars.com

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