Portraits of Oppression on Oscar Short List

The ABCs of Book Banning
Credit: MTV Documentary Films

There is a common theme among the films on the Oscar short list. Since the list came out I've been trying to catch as many of the shorter films as possible before the final Oscar nominations come out on Jan. 23. Many are available on YouTube or the various streaming services and they don't take up too much time. I even managed to catch a few on Paramount + which we recently rejoined so we could watch the Fellow Travelers limited series. The common thread is the return of oppressive and authoritarian movements or tendencies toward them. The Nazi Holocaust has always been a popular subject for Oscar-nominated docs, but with so many dictatorial leaders coming to the fore these days, new films chronicle repression. 

Just yesterday morning I streamed two 30-min. pieces linked by right-wing crushing of thought and creativity. The ABCs of Book Banning focuses on efforts in the USA to restrict access or ban books from school libraries which dare to document the stories of anti-semitism, LGBTQ people, African-American history, and other "scary" topics. Last Song from Kabul is a heart-wrenching portrait of Afghanistan's only all-girl orchestra. Of course, once the Taliban took over, their school was disbanded and the students, both male and female, left their families and flew to asylum in Portugal. 

In the two films, there were scenes of fascist thugs burning books--Nazis in the ABC film for historical context and the Taliban in the Kabul piece. In the ABC film, a 100-year-old year speaks before a school board, comparing their book-banning tactics to those of the Nazis her husband died fighting in World War II. The Taliban is also shown burning and destroying musical instruments. I never understood why the extremists hate music. Not just Western music, but ALL music including Afghani and Indian songs.  

Then last evening we watched the Independent Lens feature-length documentary Beyond Utopia which follows North Koreans who attempt to escape their prison-like country. To defect, they must make a treacherous trek through China, Vietnam,

The Roh family whose escape from 
North Korea is depicted in
Beyond Utopia.
Credit: Roadside Attractions

Laos and finally to freedom in Thailand where they can get into South Korea. The North Koreans are even worse than the Taliban evidently. On Fareed Zakara's CNN program this morning, he interviewed the director and one of the producers of the film and revealed when he was at Newsweek, they voted North Korea the worst country in the world. The Taliban are just as evil as Kim Jog Un and his government, but the North Koreans are much more efficient in carrying their demonic policies.

To continue this theme, this afternoon, we went to the Angelika Film Center and saw The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer's brilliantly clinical depiction of the idyllic home life of the commandant of Auschwitz. Sandra Huller delivers another brilliant, multilayered performance as Hedwig Hoss, wife of the

commandant. She is all smiles and casual, thoughtless gestures as she takes the luxuries of the unseen Jewish prisoners such as a mink coat and tries out the lipstick found in the pocket without a thought about the owner. When she is crossed, her true vicious nature is revealed. She finds similar depths in Anatomy of a Fall. I hope she gets at least one Oscar nomination.

Then after arriving home, Jerry turned on CNN to hear Trump haranguing Iowa GOP caucus goers with bigoted portrayals of immigrants and all those who oppose him as thieves, perverts, drug lords, and thugs. Nazis, North Korea, the Taliban, book banners, Trump. It all ties together.

On a more optimistic note, I caught Black Girls Play: The Story of Hand Games, another short doc. short-listed for the Oscar, on ESPN +. The only reason I have that sports-oriented streaming service is because it came with our subscription to Hulu plus Live TV and Disney +. I figured I'm paying for it, I may as well use it this once. Black Girls Play focuses on the cultural impact of hand games and their influence on music and dance. So I have managed to squeeze in 11 of

Black Girls Play:
The Story of Hand Games
Credit: ESPN

the 15 short docs on the Oscar short list.

2023 Potential Oscar Nominated Films Seen So Far
Oppenheimer (34th Street AMC and again on Amazon Prime)
Barbie (Regal Union Square)
Asteroid City (Angelika)
Golda (County Theater, Doylestown, PA)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Regal Kaufman Astoria)
Rustin (Netflix)
The Killer (Netflix)--Tilda Swinton could nab a Supporting Actress nod
Maestro (Paris Cinema mezzanine and again on Netflix)
May December (Netflix)

Past Lives (Amazon Prime)
Poor Things (Regal Kaufman Astoria)
The Holdovers (Regal Union Square)

American Fiction (AMC Empire 25--Times Square)
Anatomy of a Fall (Amazon Prime)

Society of the Snow (Netflix)

The Zone of Interest (Angelika)
Still: A Michael J. Fox Film (Apple TV +)
Les Menus Plaisir--Les Troisgros (Film Forum)
20 Days in Mariupol (Frontline/PBS/Watched on the Passport app)
American Symphony (Netflix)

Beyond Utopia (Independent Lens/PBS)

Short Films
Live Action
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Netflix)
The After (Netflix)

Yellow (YouTube)

Knight of Fortune (New Yorker/YouTube)

Red White and Blue (YouTube)

The Shepherd (Disney +)

Invincible (YouTube)

Animated
Boom (YouTube)
Pachyderm (YouTube)
Once Upon a Studio (Disney +)

Pete (YouTube)

Letter to a Pig (YouTube)

Eeva (YouTube)

Documentary

How We Get Free (Max)

Island in Between (NY Times/YouTube)

Deciding Vote (New Yorker/YouTube)

The Last Repair Shop (LA Times/Searchlight/YouTube)

If Dreams Were Lightning: Rural Healthcare Crisis (Independent Lens/PBS/watched on the Passport app)

Between Earth and Sky (POV/PBS website)

The Barber of Little Rock (New Yorker/YouTube)

Camp Courage (Netflix)

The ABCs of Book Banning (MTV Documentaries/Paramount +)

Last Song from Kabul (MTV Documentaries/Paramount +)

Black Girls Play: The Story of Hand Games (ESPN +)