THE HURT LOCKER: Controversy Hasn't Harmed Oscar-Nominated War Movies
Julie Christie in Variety, discussing The Deer Hunter (1978, right, with Robert De Niro): "The film presents the Vietcong as subhuman and sadistic, though they effectively resisted both France and the United States, which possessed enormous means of warfare."
Jane Fonda, the star of the post-Vietnam-syndrome Coming Home, later took it upon herself to campaign against The Deer Hunter, telling the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, "I haven't seen it — I'm afraid to. My friends told me about it, though, and I just think it's amazing that good people can see the movie and not even consider the racism." Despite the opposition of liberals and leftists, The Deer Hunter went on to win five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director (Michael Cimino).
"Given the appalling behavior not only of [the evil Sgt.] Barnes but of the platoon in general, [Oliver] Stone's effort to use his sleazy little story as a metaphor for the American experience in Southeast Asia blackens the sacrifice of every man and woman who served the United States in the Vietnam war (including Stone)." John Podhoretz in the magazine Insight, referring to Platoon (1986). Oliver Stone's Vietnam War drama outraged right-wingers and some war veterans, but still went on to win four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director.
In addition to mixed reviews and so-so business, Mel Gibson's costly Braveheart had to face other hurdles as well, including complaints about gratuitous violence, accusations of anti-gay bigotry (in the film, an effete monarch is a useless wuss and his lover is thrown out of a window for comic effect), and historical inaccuracies (wrong customs and costumes, and even the use of the moniker "Braveheart" was questioned). Even so, Braveheart went on to win five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.
Ironically, Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, which had critics drooling, World War II veterans honored, and flag-wavers waving flags went on to lose the 1998 Best Picture Oscar to the romantic period comedy Shakespeare in Love. My point: Controversy isn't necessarily bad; lack of controversy won't necessarily guarantee a movie a Best Picture Oscar.
Note: In this article, I've purposefully ignored Nicolas Chartier's anti-Avatar e-mails, as I wanted to focus on controversies generated by what people saw on screen. In any case, the Chartier e-mail scandal erupted too late in the game to really affect the voting; additionally, The Hurt Locker is perceived first and foremost as a Kathryn Bigelow effort.
Photo: The Hurt Locker (Jonathan Olley / Summit Entertainment); All Quiet on the Western Front (Universal)
Sources: Mason Wiley and Damien Bona's Inside Oscar; Lawrence H. Suid's Guts & Glory: The Making of the American Military Image in Film