National Post (National Edition)
‘Art has no borders’
POLITICS IN TRUMP ERA WAS FRONT AND CENTRE AT THE OSCARS
After Meryl Streep led the way at the Golden Globes earlier this year, an impassioned speech or two from Hollywood’s largely liberal elite seemed inevitable. And while the shocking mistake at the end of the night makes it difficult to recall pretty much anything that preceded it, there were a number of political moments — spearheaded by host Jimmy Kimmel, the only celebrity of the night to directly call out President Donald Trump — from the ceremonies that are worth remembering.
In fact, the statements kicked off before the show even began, with Ruth Negga, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Karlie Kloss and Busy Phillips all proudly wearing bright blue American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) ribbons on the red carpet. This move was especially relevant for Negga, who was nominated for her performance as Mildred Loving, a black woman who was jailed for marrying her white husband. The ACLU fought for the couple in the legendary 1967 Supreme Court case that paved the way for interracial couples to marry in America.
Iran’s Asghar Farhadi won the Best Foreign Language Film for The Salesman, which made for a particularly poignant moment — and the best speech of the night — as the director had chosen not to attend the ceremony in protest of the travel ban imposed on seven Muslimmajority countries, including Iran. However, he did have a speech that was presented by not just anyone, but Iranian-American engineer Anousheh Ansari who, in 2006, became the first Iranian in space when she paid to fly to the International Space Station.
“Dividing the world into the ‘us’ and ‘our enemies’ categories creates fear, a deceitful justification for aggression and war,” she read. “These wars prevent democracy and human rights in countries which have themselves been victims of aggression. Filmmakers can turn their cameras to capture shared human qualities and break stereotypes of various nationalities and religions. They create empathy between ‘us’ and ‘others,’ an empathy which we need today more than ever.”
While presenting the award for Best Animated Feature alongside co-presenter Hailee Steinfeld, Gael Garcia Bernal interrupted the pair’s presentation to say, “Flesh-and-blood actors are migrant workers. We travel all over the world, we build families, we construct stories, we build life, and cannot be divided. As a Mexican, as a Latin American, as a migrant worker, as a human being, I’m against any form of wall that wants to separate us.” His words were met with a rousing round of applause.
During her customary speech, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the president of the Academy for Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, dwelled on the greater diversity in nominees than in recent years, “Tonight is proof that art has no borders . ... All creative artists around the world are connected by an unbreakable bond that is powerful and permanent.”
However, if anyone consistently kept politics in the air, it was Kimmel, who time and again threw in one-liners to remind the audience of just what kind of climate they’re living in — without ever getting too heavy-handed. In his opening monologue, Kimmel delivered a few blasts in Trump’s direction, saying, “This is being watched live by millions of people in 225 countries that now hate us. ... I want to say thank you to President Trump. Remember last year when it seemed like the Oscars were racist? … It’s gone thanks to him.”
He may have dropped his best line of the night when he said, “In Hollywood, we don’t discriminate against people based on what countries they come from. We discriminate on them based on their age and weight.”
Poking fun at Trump calling Meryl Streep “over-rated” after her Globes speech, Kimmel joked, “Meryl Streep has phoned it in on more than 50 films over the course of her lacklustre career . ... Nice dress, by the way. Is that an Ivanka?”
Before tweeting Trump, who had yet to address the night’s festivities, Kimmel said, “the president will tweet about in all caps during his 5 a.m. bowel movement tomorrow.”
But it wasn’t all jokes from Kimmel. He later said, “If every person watching this show … if every one of you took a minute to reach out to someone you disagree with, someone you like and have a positive, considerate conversation — not as liberals and conservatives, but as Americans — we could make America great again.”
“I can’t (make that kind of difference),” Kimmel said, as the camera shifted to Mel Gibson in the audience, nominated for Best Director for Hacksaw Ridge. “There’s only one Braveheart in this room — and he’s not going to unite us either.”