Spotlight viewers were passionate about the film’s message; it had the power to say what needed to be said.
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Academy voters clearly had a warm spot in their hearts, though, for “The Revenant”, awarding the saga of survival in the frozen tundra three awards – including a long overdue Best Actor statue for star Leonardo DiCaprio. “It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species and we need to work together and stop procrastinating”, DiCaprio said to applause. It was the first year in 65 that a filmmaker won back-to-back director Oscars. “I can’t believe this is happening”.
“This week, the Pakistani prime minister said he would change the law on honor killing of women”, said Obaid-Chinoy, who was also the only female director to win an award at Sunday’s ceremony.
The Revenant got Best Director – so it was shocking it didn’t also win Best Picture.
Mexico’s Emmanuel Lubezki made history with his third consecutive Oscar for cinematography, for his dramatic work on “The Revenant”. The movie had a total of six Oscar nominations. George Miller’s post-apocalyptic chase film took the Oscars for editing, makeup, production design, sound editing, sound mixing and costume design. Instead, the upset of the night – at least to that point – was Bridge of Spies’ Mark Rylance winning in a late knockout, much like a last minute Rocky upset or a Rocky loss without the uplifting moral victory.
The biggest cheers went to actress Mya Taylor, who became the first transgender actress to win a Spirit award for her supporting role as a sex worker in Tangerine. Vikander, the 27-year-old Sweden-born actress was ubiquitous in 2015, also winning awards for her performance in the sci-fi “Ex Machina“.
Without the competition of “The Revenant” or “The Big Short”, the wins for “Spotlight” likely don’t suggest any better fortunes for the film at the Oscars. Asif Kapadia’s Amy Winehouse portrait, “Amy“, took best documentary.
The foreign language favorite from Hungary, Laszlo Nemes’ Holocaust drama “Son of Saul” took best worldwide film. He confronted head-on the uproar over the lack of diversity in this year’s nominees, and returned to the topic throughout the show.
ABC on Monday morning will release audience ratings for the program that will show whether the viewing public responded to Rock’s humor and efforts to call attention to racism in Hollywood, a community known for its liberal leanings and support of civil rights. The Super Bowl starts at 6:30 p.m. for a reason – Because it ends by about 10 p.m. on a Sunday night. He talked about the pressure put on him not to host the awards following the diversity controversy. But Rock hardly gave Hollywood a pass, saying “Hollywood is sorority racist”.
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“I thank you all, let us not take this planet for granted”, he added.
