2001 Best Picture:
A Beautiful Mind

Competition:
Gosford Park, In the Bedroom, Moulin Rouge, Lord of the Rings

Other Winners:
Best Actor: Denzel Washington, Training Day 
Best Actress: Halle Berry, Monster's Ball
Best Supporting Actor: Jim Broadbent, Iris
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Connelly, A Beautiful Mind
Best Director: Ron Howard, A Beautiful Mind

Cast: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris,  Christopher Plummer, Paul Bettany, Adam Goldberg

Storyline: Based on the true life story of mathematician, John Forbes Nash Jr., this film explores the horrors of schizophrenia from the perspective of one man who is suffering from it.

Did it deserve to win:  To sum it up in a nutshell - YES! Ron Howard brings to the screen his best film to date, offering Russell Crowe an opportunity to deliver a first rate performance, so much more challenging than the one which brought him Oscar glory the previous year. 

Baz Luhrmann delivered the goods with his outrageous musical, Moulin Rouge.  In the Bedroom was a first-rate acting piece, but a slowly-paced drama that promoters disguised as an 'edge of your seat' thriller.  Lord of the Rings was the special effect 'tour de force' of the year, and hit with its harshest critics -- the fans of the book.  And Godford Park was the best work in several years for Hollywood old timer, Robert Altman.      

Critique:  I don't want to say much about A Beautiful Mind, because I really don't want to ruin it for someone who hasn't seen it.  The film contains a twist that is (in my humble opinion) on par with The Sixth Sense and The Usual Suspects, in that it completely bewilders an unsuspecting viewer.  

I was not a big fan of Gladiator, and was a little disappointed when Russell Crowe won the Best Actor prize for what I felt was just a well disguised action piece.  I really like Russell Crowe as an actor, and his work in LA Confidential and The Insider are proof that he is one of the great actors of his day.  Where I felt the Gladiator was evidence of his selling out, A Beautiful Mind seemed like the ultimate redemption.  

Meanwhile, Ron Howard had spent the past twenty years trying to shed his Opie/Richie TV persona, working as a serious director.  His first big hit, Splash, in 1984, got him noticed, and his work over the years, which included Parenthood, Backdraft, and finally, Apollo 13, a Best Picture nominee in 1995, demonstrated that he was a director on the way up.   

Behind the Scenes:  A Beautiful Mind received 8 Academy Award nominations, and won four of them.  It's a miracle that it won any at all, considering that it was embroiled in one of the nastiest Oscar races in history.  Campaigning and strategizing is nothing new, but Oscar watchers uncovered some truly distasteful warring going on between the nominated parties.  

As far as Oscar worthy films go, by November of 2001, it was shaping up to be a rather dull year.  There had been a lot of disappointments released already, and the only clear front runner was Moulin Rouge, which in another year, might not have even been considered.  

By January, with all films out on the table, it became clear that three December releases, A Beautiful Mind, Lord of the Rings and In the Bedroom, had the best shot at the Best Picture slot.  

In the Bedroom was a small budget acting piece that offered Sissy Spacek and Marissa Tomei the best parts they had in years, and made a star of Tom Wilkinson.  When it seemed obvious that the film was going to be an Oscar contender, and when it was slated for wide release, promoters created TV spots that had it looking like a action packed thriller.  Lesson number one in promoting a film:  Know your audience.  Theatre goers left the film in disgust.  In the Bedroom was not for the popcorn set, and the hype for the film (it was a darling of many critics) was just a bit much.  

Meanwhile, A Beautiful Mind, despite closing in on three hours in length, was a huge hit.  It did well in limited release, and word of mouth gave it enough juice to rise to the top when it was released to multiple theatres.  With so many people talking about this film, it seemed evident that it would not only get nominated, but that it would get the Best Picture prize as well.  

A major snag in the campaign for A Beautiful Mind occurred in January when reports came out talking about the films inaccurate depiction of the main character.  Apparently the film failed to mention Nash's homosexual exploits, among other things.  Oscar watchers recalled the incident with Hurricane in 1999, where it failed to get a Best Picture nomination, when it was determined in the eleventh hour, that its portrayal of Hurricane Carter's life was not completely correct.  (Of course they failed to mention that Hurricane was not a great film to begin with.) 

A Beautiful Mind survived the bad press, but more was to come.  For the first time, the Internet reared its ugly head in the Oscar race, all in the name of the 'Louella Parson's wannabe', Matt Druge.  The Matt Drudge Report brought up more nasty gossip, including supposed anti Semitic remarks made by the film's subject.  

Ron Howard worked over time, and was even able to convince the normally reclusive Russell Crowe, to hit the campaign trail, where they found themselves continually defending their film, and setting the record straight.  During this time, it was leaked out that the source of their troubles, wasn't just Matt Drudge, but might also have been the promoters of In the Bedroom and Moulin Rouge.  Ouch! 

Crowe got into further hot water at the British Academy Awards, when he showed his temper at the show's producer, who cut some key moments from his speech for the telecast.  Crowe had to apologize personally, and publicly (in countless interviews), while Oscar watchers once again shook their head.  

In the end, the elderly John Nash, the film's subject matter, was the ultimate victim of the smear campaign, but he handled it all with a great deal of dignity.  Ron Howard and his crew supported him and refused to stoop to the levels that it was thought that the competition had stooped to.  

While In the Bedroom and Moulin Rouge suffered, by losing in key areas - including the Best Actress race, what emerged was a brilliant tribute to black actors, when for the first time, the Best Actor and Best Actress prizes were awarded to African Americans.  Halle Berry became the first black woman to win the Best Actress Oscar, and Denzel Washington followed the evening honorary award recipient, Sidney Potier, by claiming the Best Actor prize.

 

As his life becomes a complicated nightmare, Nash finds comfort in the arms of his dutiful wife.

Also in 2001:

April 30:  Chandra Levy, goes missing, and US Rep Gary Condit is implicated.  The search for her body is finally halted, and his career goes up in flames. 

June 11:  Timothy McVeigh is finally executed, and America closes the book on the Oklahoma bombing.

June 29: Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic arrives in The Hague to stand trial on war crimes charges.

September 11:  The day that will live in infamy.  

The Emmy Awards were scheduled for telecast the following week, but the 9/11 tragedy forced producers to postpone them indefinitely.  Some even questioned whether the Emmy's should even go on at all. 

The whole ruckus led some to question the fate of the Oscar's, which were still six months away.  Academy President, Frank Pierson announced that the show would go on as scheduled.  Then, after donating $1 million to disaster relief, pointed out the heightened security that would be present at the ceremony.

Don't pity me!" exclaims Randy Newman.  You knew it was a weak year for music when Randy Newman, nominated for the sixteenth time, carries the strongest tune. 

He beats out such luminaries as Paul McCartney, Faith Hill, Enya and Sting, and then instructs the orchestra (made up of many musicians that he has worked with) not to signal him off the stage. 

Newman is one of the many reasons that the ceremony set a record, at 4 hours and 23 minutes, for being the longest show on record.