One is propaganda, the other much more artful. Which do you think got the Oscar nod?

...The Academy, faced with two films telling the same basic story, ignored the film that was the product of years of research, and chose instead the one resulting from tea in Ramallah and a four-hour late-night writing effort...Finally—and sadly for those who hope for peace—the Academy disregarded the film that was the result of a creative collaboration between Jew and Muslim, and chose instead to honor a work of agitprop, written and produced by a leader of the ongoing cinematic intifada.

Rick Richman..
The Tower..
March '14..

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ rules for Best Foreign Language Film provide that each “country” makes a single submission. This year there were 76 submissions—a record. An Academy committee reduced them to a nine-film shortlist, and a second committee chose five nominees, from four countries and one non-country: Belgium (The Broken Circle Breakdown), Cambodia (The Missing Picture), Denmark (The Hunt), Italy (The Great Beauty), and “Palestine” (Omar). The rules also require that a film be first released in the country submitting it. In the past year, Omar has been released in Europe and the United States, but not in “Palestine.”

The Academy bent its rules in the case of Omar, but the nomination presents issues even more important than the rule violations. This essay examines why Omar is characterized as a “Palestinian” film, and what it shows about whether “Palestine”—if it ever actually becomes a country—can live side by side in peace and security with Israel. It also takes a look at a second new film, Bethlehem, which is nearly identical in plot, quality, and in the questions it raises, and whose exceptional artistic merit makes the specific choice of Omar all the more unfathomable.

(Continue)

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