By Isaac Feldberg, news correspondent
“Who gave this son-of-a-b*tch his green card?” Sean Penn snarked as he presented “Birdman” director Alejandro González Iñárritu with the Academy Award for Best Director, ending what was alternately a politically conscious and horrifically tone-deaf Oscar night on a sour note.
Though Penn, who worked with Iñárritu on “21 Grams,” said he was joking, the remark illuminated Hollywood’s utter lack of comfort or class in dealing with diversity, a fault which manifested itself repeatedly during the evening.
First came host Neil Patrick Harris’ opening dig at the blindingly Caucasian nature of this year’s acting nominees: “Tonight we honor Hollywood’s best and whitest… sorry, I mean brightest.”
The Academy evidently hoped to convey early on that it was laughing too – that it could still acknowledge its own shortcomings. That effort failed when the rest of the night proved beyond a doubt that the Academy still has a race problem.
Harris repeatedly singled out black actors, recruiting Octavia Spencer to assist with a tiresome magic trick, asking David Oyelowo to read aloud a dig at the “Annie” remake and randomly making Oprah Winfrey the butt of a wealth-related joke. Cameras also cut to a black actor somewhere in the crowd whenever “Selma” or Martin Luther King, Jr. were mentioned, even fleetingly.
Harris proved equally tone-deaf in less tricky situations. When “Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1” won Best Documentary Short and the filmmaker moved audience members while discussing her veteran son’s suicide, he made a tasteless joke about the “balls” on her dress. Later, he joked about “American Sniper” subject Chris Kyle’s many kills while overseas, with Kyle’s widow in the audience. The host drew more groans than laughs.
Still, excellent performances and speeches salvaged at least sections of the night. “Birdman” flew high at the ceremony, winning Best Picture as well as Best Director, Cinematography and Original Screenplay. However, Best Picture nominee “Selma” stole the show, with Common and John Legend leading a heart-stopping, emotional performance of the film’s Best Original Song winner “Glory” in front of a recreation of Selma, Ala.’s Edmund Pettus Bridge.
The pair’s acceptance speeches reaffirmed that the song, and its film, communicate a message both timeless and topical. In the most moving speech of the night, Common said “This bridge was once a landmark of a divided nation, but now is a symbol for change … The spirit of this bridge connects the kid from the south side of Chicago, dreaming of a better life, to those in France standing up for their freedom of expression to the people in Hong Kong protesting for democracy. This bridge was built on hope, welded with compassion, and elevated by love for all human beings.”
The ceremony also surprised, in a positive way, with its approach to gay rights. Harris is the first openly gay married man to host, and he took the opportunity to covet Channing Tatum and perform a song-and-dance number in which he saluted “all the tension between Ben [Affleck] and Matt [Damon]” in “Good Will Hunting.”
Another moment showcasing acceptance came when Graham Moore accepted the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for “The Imitation Game,” a film about gay mathematician Alan Turing. On stage, Moore detailed his struggles with depression, stating, “When I was 16-years-old, I tried to kill myself because I felt weird and I felt different and I felt like I did not belong. And now I am standing here … For that kid out there who thinks she’s weird or she’s different or she doesn’t fit in anywhere, yes, you do.”
Such candor is rare to see in speeches more typically used to recite laundry lists of names, but it saved the evening there and elsewhere. Common and Legend pushed for racial justice, and Moore turned the spotlight to depression, while other winners highlighted similarly hot-button issues. Best Actor winner Eddie Redmayne (“The Theory of Everything”) acknowledged those battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), while Best Actress winner Julianne Moore (“Still Alice”) brought up ALS and Alzheimer’s disease. Best Supporting Actress winner Patricia Arquette (“Boyhood”) drew cheers when she called for gender-based wage equality. In those moments, the Oscars seemed to approach, dare I say it, relevance.
But then came Penn. The actor’s closing, off-the-cuff jab marked the ceremony’s definitive nadir. Did it ruin the night? For some, perhaps it did. After all, with wins for Iñárritu and “Birdman” cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, the Oscars were intended to honor Hispanic filmmakers, not slight them. And none of the British nominees or winners, like Redmayne, were ever questioned about their immigration status.
However self-abasing the Academy may pretend to be, it was downright despicable that, on the organization’s most important night, it became a pulpit from which prominent white actors could callously reduce hard-working minorities to illegitimate aliens swiping awards from Caucasians. Moving forward in a politically charged climate, the Oscars will have to work much harder next year – and maybe screen its presenters more carefully.
Photo courtesy Fox Searchlight Pictures
