The Oscars

I've been watching Fox News (surprise) this morning and many of the commentators mentioned that they felt that American Sniper was snubbed because of its director, Clint Eastwood and that the awards show was very political.

I agree that it was very political, but isn't it every year?  Patricia Arquette's tirade about wage inequality and lack of rights for women was ridiculous.  As far as I know from my experience, women have been given equal chances for success, some even more than equal. 

My main problem with the complaints is their assumption that Bradley Cooper should have received the Oscar for American Sniper.  I have not seen any of the movies that were in contention, but from what I have read, Eddie Redmayne certainly deserved the award.  I've seen clips from The Theory of Everything, Steven Hawking's story and the likeness between the two people is amazing.  I've read that there were days when Mr. Redmayne did scenes from Mr. Hawking's days before he became ill and later in the day when he is wheelchair bound.  That certainly takes acting prowess. 

I'm sure Bradley Cooper did a wonderful job in American Sniper, but if there were any snub to be imagined, I would think it would have been of The Imitation Game.  I really thought that film would take all the honors because of the hero.  He broke the Nazi code, he was persecuted because he was gay and even committed suicide because of that persecution.  Honoring that film certainly would have been political.

There was one political statement that has me puzzled and it has bothered me for quite some time.  The winner for a documentary praised Edward Snowden for informing us of the government's spying on its citizens.  Maybe it's good that he did that, but if he thought that he was right to do so, he should have stayed here and proved his point.  In my eyes, he is not a hero, he is a coward.  If you believe that you are doing the right thing, you should stay and face the consequences, not run to another country.  Stand up for your beliefs and convictions.

My biggest disappointment  in the show however, was the omission, during the In Memoriam segment, of Joan Rivers.  Granted, she was not a huge movie star, but she was the subject of a documentary.  I would like to know why she was snubbed.