For only the second time ever a Latin American film won the Academy Award for top foreign movie.
Argentina's "El Secreto de sus Ojos" ("The Secret In Their Eyes") beat out entries from countries like France and Germany to win the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. "Viva Argentina!" declared director Juan José Campanella after accepting the statuette along with other members of the production. Campanella also briefly proclaimed his solidarity with the victims of the recent earthquake in Chile though his comments were abruptly cut off. (Update: According to Argentina's Clarin.com Campanella sent "a hug to my Chilean brothers".)
"El Secreto de sus Ojos" was one of the five finalists along with the gripping Peruvian drama "The Milk of Sorrow" (La Teta Asustada). In the end, the Argentine thriller joined another movie from that country- 1985's "La Historia Oficial" ("The Official Story")- to be recognized by the Academy as the Best Foreign Film.
The following is the trailer to "El Secreto de sus Ojos". See for yourself why this movie won top honors tonight:
Online Sources - TIME, YouTube, The Latin Americanist, Buenos Aires Herald
it was the only surprise on the oscar evening
ReplyDeleteMy semi-educated guess was that the two European entries split most of the vote and "El Secreto..." emerged as the winner. Still, that film is definitely a worthy a winner and as big of an upset as some pundits and film buffs believe.
ReplyDeleteThe real surprises of the ceremony was Sandra Bullock winning Best Actress (great speech, terrible movie), the orchestra playing "I Am woman" after Bigelow won Best Director, and that crazed lady who rushed the stage during one of the acceptance speeches in the Best Short ____.
Meant to say that El Secreto "is definitely a worthy winner and NOT as big an upset..."
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't seen Campanella and Darin working together in other flicks like "El Hijo de la Novia" and "La Luna de Avellaneda", you should. These guys are great together...
ReplyDeleteWell, I must tell you that we are absolutely happy that El secreto de sus Ojos won the oscar for best foreign movie. Everyone, and I mean everyone, was holding their breath while they announced the winner. Darin is one of the best argentinian actors there is, and Francella is amazing too, though we were kinda surprised when we saw him play a dramatic character (he's a comedian). I'm glad that finally the argentinian talent was put out there, and rewarded :)
ReplyDeleteIt's all erroneous the thing you are saying.
ReplyDelete