Why BlackKklansman Will Win Best Picture
'Tis the week before the Oscars, and 8 films are ramping up their campaigns in a last-minute push for the top prize of them all, Best Picture. The biggest award has the potential to be either one of the most anticlimactic or most surprising result in recent years. The former is true, because really only a few films have won any of the top prizes on the awards circuit, and one of those [Alfonso Cuarón's Roma] is a notable step ahead in the sweepstakes. However, many have called this one of the most wide-open Best Picture races in recent memory. Not only is no contender is a traditional winner, none is without controversy; those facts, as well as the Oscars' less predictable preferential voting system means that no nominee can be counted out of the race. Birdman's and Spotlight's upsets in 2015 and 2016, and Moonlight's stunner in 2017 dared us to expect the unexpected, so we're here to give fans of all 8 nominated films reason to believe they might win the top honors on Sunday night.
Our last piece discussed the possibilities of Green Book winning. Were BlackKlansman to win instead, it would be the antithesis coming to fruition. Where the former is accused of drastically oversimplifying the complexities of race and racial tension, the latter has been thoroughly acclaimed for its portrayal of that same tension, albeit in a different setting.
BlackKlansman follows the true story of African-American Colorado Springs police officer Ron Stallworth infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan; and, true to its director’s form, it lets you know its veracity from the opening frame stating the story is “based on some fo’ real, fo’ real shit.” It’s a fascinating story, and one that’s told in brilliantly creative fashion. It’s equal parts thrilling action, uproarious comedy, and righteous indignation. If the Academy look to avoid racial controversy with their selection, it’d be hard to make a better choice than BlackKlansman, which puts an African-American actor and actresses in the forefront of a nuanced racial movie. It has its surreal moments as well, but it’s considerably more reigned-in than some of Spike Lee’s past films, in a way that may still seem palatable for the more conventional Academy voters.
And speaking of the acclaimed director, if there’s a primary reason to believe in BlackKklansman’s ability to win on Sunday night, it’s Spike Lee. Lee is an industry icon, long-considered one of the most creative, most brilliant minds in cinema. He is, though, famously Oscar-less. Before this year, the only time he had even been nominated in the ceremony was in 1990 and 1998, as a nominee for Best Original Screenplay and Best Documentary Feature, respectively. Many consider his lack of recognition for Do The Right Thing one of the bigger snubs in Oscar history; this year might just be the year the Academy tries to right their past wrongs.