Some may ask why it should even be necessary to do so.  The reasons are plentiful.  Those who do not study the past are doomed to repeat it.  The human experience is intrinsically connected to the search for meaning, from which our collective purpose can be divined. In short, by seeking to understand, we become that much closer to each other and to God.

But there is a greater reason still.  You’ll find much of it contained in David Milch’s discussion of his intriguing (though flawed) HBO series John From Cincinnati.  Mr. Milch postulates that the media has abdicated its moral responsibility (fans of Big Journalism have known that for some time), and that television has created a surrogate existence for us, detaching us from emotional reality.  Specifically:

I think that the media have infantilized the expectations of the audience because of the lack of some sort of transcendent informing vision. I believe that the surrogate existence that is provided by television has come to supplant the genuine emotional life of the populace…the assault on the collective sensibility of 9/11 was such as to give the audience so much fear that the only way that they could be placated was with a television series [The Iraq War…which had] everything to do with the habituation of the viewing public to the shaping of human experience in distorted forms for which the media is responsible…we wanted to be narcotized in our reaction to the assault on the World Trade Center…There is a different drama which is enacting itself in our country right now and it has to do with a failure to acknowledge the necessary moral and imaginative predicate that has become an entirely virtual existence, which is, you know, people spend more than half their waking hours watching television. Just think about that for a second. That has to shape the neural pathways…”

In other words, Neo, “free your mind”.  We must reconnect with the emotional reality of our existence, and the emotional reality of 9/11.  Regrettably, we have indeed become narcotized to it — because we understandably want to be.  That alone permits our enemy to make further gains towards destroying us.

Thus, there is a necessity to find ways of reinterpreting the 9/11 experience into something we can make emotional sense out of.

But there’s a problem.  As I’ve written before, there are considerable obstacles when attempting to depict true evil in film.  Some horrific events so transcend the bounds of reason, or even reality, that they are literally impossible to put into words.  How, then, could they put into pictures?  Ah, but such is the power of art — high art, that is, not popular art.

It can be done, but it won’t be easy.  How will we recognize it when it happens? As per my article, “Does Hollywood Create Art?“, we will recognize it when it has its own form rather than merely a shape; when it elicits a response as opposed to a reaction; when it expresses emotion rather than creates simple emotional associations; and if we truly find ourselves in the work as opposed to see ourselves reflected in it.

Although, thus far, only documentary films about 9/11 fit these criteria, I do believe a few filmmakers have the ability to tackle the subject.  I’ll get to those in a moment.  In the meantime, I consider it vital that every American seek out films, books, music, and television that strives to be high art concerning 9/11.  I personally have seen very few.  It is vital not simply to bear witness, and to let our tears mingle with those who have suffered, but to further get our hands around this unspeakable event and contextualize it.

In the meantime, I urge you to see these two extraordinary documentaries that are worlds apart from each other.

9/11: The Documentary 

Two French filmmakers, the Naudet brothers, had intended to make a film about life in a NYC firehouse, Battalion 1.  They found themselves doing that on September 11th.  One of them was filming at the firehouse when the battalion was called in to assist.  They went along.  What follows is an extraordinary account of these heroes at the scene as everything unfolded.   You got into the depths of the WTC along with them.  You hear firemen’s accounts of that day.  You witness some events you have never seen before.  You will be moved like never before.

Man on Wire 

This is not actually a film about 9/11 at all.  Yet the events of that day inform every second of the film.  It tells the exuberant and thrilling tale of how Frenchman Philippe Petit, and a small group on cohorts, arranged to string a wire between the Towers in 1974 — so he could perform a high-wire walk between them.  The film is so expertly constructed that it unfolds almost like a heist movie, complete with the plan, suspense, things going wrong, and the most colorful mastermind you’ve ever seen.  It is totally engaging, funny, charming, and utterly delightful.

The reason why you must see this movie, in regards to 9/11, is because it never makes a single mention of the Towers’ destruction.  This is a movie that demonstrates the unlimited power of the human spirit.   It speaks to mankind’s ability not merely to dream, but to transform those dreams into a reality.  It is a reality not of fire, death, and rubble, but a reality of creation, of beauty, and of inspiration.

For me, Man on Wire accomplishes all the things that high art does. You will love it.

It is, for good reason, the best-reviewed movie at Rotten Tomatoes, earning a perfect score of 100 from 145 reviewers.

Where to from here? 

Can any other cultural experience achieve what needs to be achieved in regards to 9/11?  I believe so.  We’ve seen glimmers of it.   Bruce Springsteen’s The Rising comes close.  There may be books or symphonies I am not aware of.   As for filmed entertainment, I think only someone like Terrence Malick or David Lynch might be able to accomplish it, amongst a few others.

Despite detractors like our own John Nolte, Mr. Malick’s Tree of Life is arguably a masterpiece.  More to the point, it creates an impressionistic experience — of memory, of life, of emotional reality — in a non-linear narrative that accomplishes far more than any traditional storytelling method would have.  I’ll write more on this film when it comes out on DVD, but the approach Mr. Malick takes with that film, as well as with The Thin Red Line is arguably the only approach that could ever work in regards to 9/11.

I’m not hopeful.  Hollywood doesn’t spend money on movies like that.

If you haven’t seen it, “Man On Wire” is an engrossing documentary about the French wirewalker, Philippe Petit who, on August 7, 1974, spent about forty-five minutes balancing on a wire illegally stretched between the two World Trade Center towers. Much of the film is put together out of home movies that Petit, his girlfriend Annie Allix, and a variety of cohorts made of themselves during the six years they plotted and trained for their crime. That’s the first indication that something is very much morally awry with Petit and his pals. Talented circus performer that he may be, Petit fancies himself to be such a “great artiste” that his narcissistic desire to defy death while demonstrating his skill trumps all protestations. He merits his obsession to be so important, that it all had to be documented for posterity. There are numerous episodes showing his friends, desperately trying to talk him out of his insane scheme, and even some thirty years later one of his co-conspirators breaks down in tears recalling the stress from the possibility that he might have been complicit in his friend’s death. Nevertheless, Petit’s insufferable self-importance sweeps away all their objections.
 
The movie is made to look like a caper film, inter-cutting reenactments of particularly funny or harrowing moments with footage of some of Petit’s other stunts, the most notable being his 1973 tightrope walk across the span of Sydney Harbor Bridge. That event snarled rush-hour traffic for miles and then, after being arrested, Petit proudly admitted to having picked the arresting officer’s pockets.
 
Once he stepped out onto that wire in 1972, Petit instantly achieved the international celebrity status that he so desperately craved. It never once occurred to him, as he literally danced on that wire almost 1500 feet above the ground, that his actions might have an adverse impact on others. In his words, all he thought about was, “What a beautiful death it would be to die in the exercise of my passion!” Yet, what about the people below? Had he fallen or dropped his 55 pound pole he likely would have killed an innocent gawker. And even if he didn’t injure anyone, what about the psychological trauma his being squashed on impact might have inflicted on all those onlookers? The movie asks no such morally difficult questions. Instead, we listen to Petit’s long-suffering girlfriend, Annie, gush wistfully, “Oh, eet was zo beauteefool to zee heem high above us,” just before telling us that the very first thing Petit did upon his release from custody, even before celebrating with his pals, was to jump into bed with a pretty girl groupie who offered herself to him. Ahhh … such a Frenchman!
 
But, then, narcissists are never particularly troubled by what impacts other people. I think it is this portrayal of unabashed narcissism that helped make the film so popular – especially among those who choose and vote for the Academy Awards. In a previous article for “Big Hollywood,” I wrote about the intimate connection of Hollywood elites to narcissistic self-importance. In “Man On Wire” we see narcissism writ large, and Hollywood lapped it up.
 
Beyond that, though, I was struck by the much larger metaphor between Phillipe Petit and our new President. Our country has elected a man who is preternaturally overconfident and totally self-absorbed. Recall the interview before the election in which CBS correspondent Lara Logan asked candidate Obama if he ever had any doubt about his readiness to lead? His grinning answer, given without a moment’s hesitation was, “Never!” So, it is with utter self-righteousness, that President Obama casually rescinds whatever campaign rhetoric has proven to be inconvenient to his Socialist agenda. Remember how all proposed legislation was going to be transparent to the public and posted on the Internet for all to see? (Except for the pork-laden, so-called “Stimulus Bill” which was pushed into law before even the members of Congress had a chance to read it.) Remember how all earmarks were going be stricken line by line from any bills? (Excluding, of course, those earmarks that go to the Democrat special interests.) Remember how special interests were no longer going to hold sway over government decision-making? (Unless those special interests are the  teacher’s union, trial lawyer’s, or teamsters.) Certainly, we all know how his well-publicized promises of “bringing government together in bipartisan support” evaporated as soon as he took the oath of office.
 
Of course, none of this comes as a shock to anyone who spends a couple of minutes thinking through any of what President Obama says in his lofty-sounding but utterly empty speeches. In that sense, Petit and President Obama are very similar. While Petit fancies himself to be a great artist, he really is nothing more than a glorified circus performer. And while President Obama imagines himself to be the new savior of the modern world, in reality he is turning out to be exactly the same kind of political hack that his shallow rhetoric and shady Illinois background would lead us to expect.
 
Where he differs from Petit is that Petit was unquestionably the best at what he did – whose skill on a tightrope was unparalleled and even justified a certain level of hubris. President Obama, on the other hand, is already demonstrating that on top of being a Socialist ideologue he is an incompetent decision-maker. In some cases it results from his inability to say “no” to the special interests that control him. Witness his staggering decision to start a trade war with Mexico (a country already teetering on the brink of chaos) that will cost the United States billions of dollars in tariffs simply to please the Teamsters demand that we deny access to ninety-seven Mexican trucks. In other cases, his bad decisions seem to stem from naivety and arrogant self-delusion. Example: his warm and fuzzy “Happy New Year” video asking the Mullahs of Iran to make nice so we can all hold hands and sing “Kumbayah” together. I’ll bet that had them chortling all the way to their nuclear bomb facilities.
 
Unfortunately, Barack Obama seems to be the first ever “New Age” President. Entirely self-invented, he has, through sheer strength of will and astonishing chutzpah, “manifested” himself into the Presidency. Like the wirewalker, Petit, he is charming and glib (so long as the teleprompters are working) and sweeps aside any ideas that don’t comport with his agenda. Also like Petit, he is not a serious man but rather is a man besotted by his own celebrity status. Why else spend an enormous amount of taxpayer dollars to fly himself and his entourage out to Hollywood, just so he could claim to be the first President ever to appear on the “Tonight Show?”
 
All this would be somewhat entertaining if it didn’t have gravely serious worldwide implications. Petit and his cohorts could jauntily afford to pick the pockets of the police and it would all be seen as an amusing prank. When President Obama and cohorts like Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reed pick all our pockets to fund their Socialist expansion of Big Government, it is far more serious. There was a lot less likelihood that Petit would fall off his wire than there is that our President and his radically misguided policies will drive our country into an economic ditch from which we may never fully recover.
 
The ironic metaphor I took away from watching “Man On Wire” came from seeing Petit blithely traversing his wire between the now evaporated World Trade Center towers. Those towers were destroyed a mere 27 years later by the greatest concentrated evil that has yet faced mankind. Sadly, President Obama seems to be dancing on a wire of his own narcissistic construction, oblivious to the maw that gapes below him. I pray that he doesn’t fall off.

Slumdog Millionaire is about to win the Hollywood's Grand Prize

The “Battle Royale” of the night is Mickey Rouke from The Wrestler (Fox Searchlight) vs. Sean Penn in Milk (Focus) in the Best Actor category. There have been two ties in major categories in Academy Award history. The first was in 1932 when Frederic March in Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde shared Best Actor with Wallace Beery for The Champ. (March had one more vote, but in that era, any finish within 3 votes was rules a tie.) Then in 1968, Katherine Hepburn for The Lion In Winter and Barbara Streisand for Funny Girl tied for Best Actress. If there was any justice, Rourke and Penn would share the award. In any other year, either of them would be a lock. Forced to make a pick, I’m going with Rourke.

Does Streep's upset of Winslet at the SAG Awards set the stage for Meryl's third Oscar win?

Kate Winslet is on the cover of Time Magazine, and she has picked up a wheelbarrow full of hardware during this awards cycle, but a fair number of voters got their fill of Kate when she pulled off the double-win at the Golden Globes. My upset special is Meryl Streep for Doubt (Miramax). This is her 15th career nomination, and she has not won an Academy Award in 25 years (Sophie’s Choice in 1982). That is too long for the most-revered actress in history to go without getting one of those golden guys. Streep won the SAG Award for Lead Actress, and I think she has a real shot here. (It would be a huge upset.)

Finally if my predix hold up, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount) would win only 2 Oscars – Best Visual Effects and Best Makeup – despite 13 nominations. That would be the fewest wins for any movie with 13 or more nominations. In fact, 2 wins would be among the poorest showings ever for a movie with 11 nominations or more.

Tied for the biggest shutout in Oscar history; Benjamin Button could win for Makeup and Visual Effects

FEWEST OSCAR WINS FOR MOVIES WITH 11 NOMINATIONS OR MORE
1. The Color Purple – 0 wins (11 nominations)
2. The Turning Point – 0 wins (11 nominations)
3. Chinatown – 1 win (11 nominations)
4. Johnny Belinda – 1 win (12 nominations)
5. Becket – 1 win (12 nominations)
6. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington – 1 win (11 nominations)
7. Pride of the Yankees – 1 win (11 nominations)
8. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – 2 wins (13 nominations) – predicted
9. Rebecca – 2 wins (11 nominations)
10. Sergeant York – 2 wins (11 nominations)
11. A Passage To India – 2 wins (11 nominations)
12. Judgement at Nuremberg – 2 wins (11 nominations)

After weeks of obsessive study, relentless debate and intense soul-searching, here are my final Oscar predictions for all 24 categories.

BEST PICTURE
My Pick – Slumdog Millionaire
Consensus Pick – Slumdog Millionaire
Dark Horse – Milk

BEST ACTOR
My Pick – Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
Consensus Pick – Sean Penn, Milk or Rourke
Dark Horse – None

BEST ACTRESS
My Pick – Meryl Streep, Doubt
Consensus Pick – Kate Winslet, The Reader
Dark Horse – Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
My Pick – Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Consensus Pick – Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Dark Horse – None

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
My Pick – Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Consensus Pick – Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Dark Horse – Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler

BEST DIRECTOR
My Pick – Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Consensus Pick – Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Dark Horse – David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Milk screenwriter Justin Lance Black

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
My Pick – Dustin Lance Black, Milk
Consensus Pick – Andrew Stanton, WALL-E
Dark Horse – Martin McDonagh, In Bruges

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
My Pick – Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire
Consensus Pick – Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire
Dark Horse – David Hare, The Reader

BEST EDITING
My Pick – Slumdog Millionaire
Consensus Pick – Slumdog Millionaire
Dark Horse – Frost/Nixon

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
My Pick – Anthony Dod Mantle, Slumdog Millionaire
Consensus Pick – Anthony Dod Mantle, Slumdog Millionaire
Dark Horse – Wally Pfister, The Dark Knight

BEST ART DIRECTION
My Pick – The Dark Knight
Consensus Pick – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Dark Horse – The Duchess

BEST SOUND MIXING
My Pick – The Dark Knight
Consensus Pick – The Dark Knight
Dark Horse – Slumdog Millionaire

BEST SOUND EDITING
My Pick – Slumdog Millionaire
Consensus Pick – Slumdog Millionaire
Dark Horse – The Dark Knight

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
My Pick – The Duchess
Consensus Pick – The Duchess
Dark Horse – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
My Pick – A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire
Consensus Pick – A. R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire
Dark Horse – Alexandre Desplat, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
My Pick – Waltz with Bashir
Consensus Pick – Waltz with Bashir
Dark Horse – The Class

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
My Pick – Man on Wire
Consensus Pick – Man On Wire
Dark Horse – Trouble the Water

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
My Pick – WALL-E
Consensus Pick – WALL-E
Dark Horse – Kung Fu Panda

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
My Pick – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Consensus Pick – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Dark Horse – The Dark Knight

BEST MAKEUP
My Pick – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Consensus Pick – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Dark Horse – The Dark Knight

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
My Pick – Jaiho from Slumdog Millionaire
Consensus Pick – Jaiho from Slumdog Millionaire
Dark Horse – Peter Gabriel, Down to Earth from WALL-E

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT
My Pick – Toyland (Spielzeugland)
Consensus Pick – Auf der Strecke
Dark Horse – The Pig

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
My Pick – Presto
Consensus Pick – La Maison en Petits Cubes
Dark Horse – This Way Up

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
My Pick – The Conscience of Nhem En
Consensus Pick – The Witness
Dark Horse – The Final Inch

Steve Mason is on Facebook and now also on Twitter.

BAFTA Winner Mickey Rourke

The two major uncertainties entering Sunday’s ceremony were whether Kate Winslet, twice-nominated for Best Actress, would split her own vote and miss out on her second BAFTA Award and who would prevail in the Sean Penn-Mickey Rourke battle for Best Actor. Aside from that, it seemed like a Slumdog sweep, and that’s exactly how it played out.

BEST PICTURE: Slumdog Millionaire
Presented by Mick Jagger, so good in 1992’s Freejack, also starring Emilio Estevez, Renee Russo and Anthony Hopkins, the Rolling Stones front man was chosen to lead the coronation. (I’m being facetious. Freejack was awful. Jagger just seems like an odd choice.)

BAFTA Winner Danny Boyle flanked by Patrick Stewart (left) and Ian McKellan

BEST ACTOR: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
Chalk one up for Rourke. I think that the tide is turning in the Oscar race. Mickey dropped an F-bomb in his acceptance speech, and although censors will need every one of those 7 seconds of delay, I am now leaning to Rourke’s heroic turn as Randy “The Ram” Robinson to win Best Actor at February 22’s Academy Awards. A choice moment from Mickey’s speech, “Thanks to Marsei Tomei for constantly taking her clothes off on-screen…I enjoyed looking at her.” Here’s a link to Mickey’s acceptance speech with all the necessary bleeps.

Penelope Cruz, Mickey Rourke and Kate Winslet show off their hardware

BEST ACTRESS: Kate Winslet, The Reader
She was nominated for both Revolutionary Road an The Reader, but just as Oscar voters did, the BAFTA Awards voters preferred the slow burning guilt and shame of her performance in The Reader over her showy Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf-style theatrics in Rev Road.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
The year’s most memorable performance, and since TDK was snubbed for Best Picture at both the BAFTA Awards and the upcoming Oscars, this is the best way to pay tribute to the all-time second-biggest grossing movie in US history.

Cruz didn't have to contend with Winslet, with both of her nominations in the Best Actress category or Viola Davis (Doubt), a strong contender at the Oscars

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Very well-deserved. She had a tremendous year with both the edgy, verge of crazy Maria Elena from Woody Allen’s comedy and a haunting performance in the very underrated Elegy. With Winslet out of the Supporting Actress race at both the BAFTA Awards and the Oscars, Cruz gets her shot. Keep in mind that Viola Davis, so good in Doubt was not nominated here, but is a live bet in two weeks at the Academy Awards.

BEST DIRECTOR: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
The obvious choice. Manchester-born. The career of a true auteur with brilliantly diverse films like Trainspotting, Shallow Grave, Millions and 28 Days Later on his resume.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire
After writing The Fully Monty in 1998, this UK-born screenwriter seemingly disappeared until 2008 when he wrote both Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day and Slumdog. No surprise at all that he wins here, and he seems like a lock on Oscar night with David Hare’s The Reader as a distant challenger.

Original Screenplay winner Martin McDonagh with his In Bruges star Colin Farrell

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Martin McDonagh, In Bruges
Known for his plays The Pillowman and The Beauty Queen of Leenane, he actually won the Oscar for Best Short Live Action Film in 2006 with something called Six Shooter. London-born this is his first full-length feature film and he is both a BAFTA winner and an Academy Award nominee. McDonagh is unlikely to repeat on Oscar night with Dustin Lance Black, already the WGA winner, a strong favorite for Milk.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Anthony Dod Mantle, Slumdog Millionaire
A Boyle favorite who previously worked with him on 28 Days Later, Mantle was also DP on 2006’s fantastic The Last King of Scotland. He could be carried to an Oscar win riding the crest of a Slumdog tidal wave, or Wally Pfister could snag the award for his work on The Dark Knight (there could be a reverse backlash at the Academy Awards with voters rallying around TDK because of the Best Picture snub). The tag-team of two-time Oscar winner Chris Menges and eight-time nominee Roger Deakins are also a threat for their work on The Reader.

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Probably the right choice here. It’s a 160-minute movie covering decades so getting the look right must have been a daunting task.

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Again this is right on. In fact, you could argue that the whole movie is predicated on the visual effects. Seamlessly placing Brad Pitt’s face on another body without the strings showing? If the FX people don’t pull this off, Fincher has no movie.

BEST SOUND: Slumdog Millionaire
On Oscar night, this category will either belong to Slumdog in a sweep or The Dark Knight.

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIR: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The obvious choice for the BAFTA Awards and the Oscars.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Michael O’Connor, The Duchess
Big gigantic dresses. That’s what I saw when I watched The Duchess. Generally speaking, that’s what wins in this category.

Composer A.R. Rahman wins the BAFTA and may become the first Indian to win an Academy Award

BEST MUSIC: A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire
In my mind, this is the right choice. There has never been a mainstream film score that sounds remotely like what Rahman produced for Slumdog. The score is integral to the feel of the movie. In fact, it’s hard to imagine that it would be the same movie with a conventional score. Rahman is only the third Indian ever nominated for an Oscar, and this soundtrack does represent a fascinating bridge between traditional and modern Indian music and the Western sound we all know.

BEST ANIMATED FILM: WALL-E
Yes, Waltz With Bashir is unique – an animated, foreign language documentary, but WALL-E is a special, special movie, and Andrew Stanton deserves every award that comes along. The Chaplinesque quality of the first act makes it, for my money, one of the best animated movies of the modern era.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: I’ve Loved You So Long
This was easily my favorite foreign language film of 2008. The arcane rules governing Best Foreign Language Film excluse this Phillipe Claudel drama from Oscar contention, but put this in your Netflix cue when it becomes available. Kristen Scott Thomas delivers a haunting portrait of a woman with a secret, and, as it unravels in the hands of her empathetic sister (played by the remarkable Elsa Zylberstein), her burden and suffering are heartbreaking.

BEST BRITISH FILM: Man on Wire
Slumdog was nominated here, but the BAFTA tradition is to recognize a smaller film, excluded from the Best Picture race. I am one of the few people that didn’t fall in love with this James Marsh doc about wire-walker Phillippe Petit. Since the Brits have no Best Documentary Feature category, this was their one chance to recognize Marsh. Man On Wire is the prohibitive Oscar favorite for Best Doc, and I may have to watch it again just to see if I missed something the first time around.

Noel Clarke, the surprise winner of the BAFTA Rising Star Award

ORANGE RISING STAR: Noel Clarke
This award is voted on by the British public, and Clarke is the star of the UK TV hit Doctor Who. Both Michael Cera (Juno, Superbad) and Rebecca Miller (Frost/Nixon, Vicky Cristina Barcelona) lost the fan vote but are likely to have longer and more notable careers than Clarke.

CARL FOREMAN AWARD: Steve McQueen, The Hunger
Tells the story of the last six weeks in the life of hunger striker Bobby Sands. Michael Fassbender, who also lost out on the Orange Rising Star Award to Clarke, portrays Sands, and the movie played for just one week in the US (I’m assuming for Oscar qualification). Hopefully IFC will give this some arthouse runs this year.

Steve Mason is on Facebook and now also on Twitter.