Oscars 2013 Category Breakdown: Best Documentary Feature

Every year, leading up to the Oscars, I break down every single category. It’s essentially a precursor to my picks. I explain all the stuff that needs to be explained in detail, so when the time comes to make my picks, I can refer to it as a shorthand.

In the articles, I’ll go over each category’s history, show previous winners and nominees, then list the current year’s nominees, talk about the guild history, if it’s important, what the guilds went with this year, whether that means anything for that particular category — all the background you need to know to make an informed decision. And then, once that’s all done, I’ll rank the nominees in that category in order of their likelihood to win, based on how I see it at the present.

The only difference between this year and previous years is that this year, I’ll be doing only one category a day instead of multiple categories. This is so I can take more time with each category and not stuff a bunch into a single article for information overload, and, simply, so I don’t have to do as much work. Though it is also easier this way. One category, one day.

Today’s category is Documentary Feature. A category that, if I ranked all 24 Oscar categories by how much I cared about them, would be #22. I just don’t care about documentaries. Some people, that’s all they care about. Me — you’re lucky if you get me to watch one a year. This year, somehow, I’ve seen two, and will probably somehow see a third. I have no idea how this happened.

That said, even though I don’t like documentaries, this is always an easy category to figure, since you can always gauge how much they’re gonna go for each of the nominees. This one is no different. I see three potential winners here.

Best Documentary Feature

The Act of Killing

Cutie and the Boxer

Dirty Wars

The Square

20 Feet from Stardom

Here’s what they’re about:

The Act of Killing – In Indonesia, after a coup, the new government had mass killings of people who didn’t agree with them. The gangsters who perpetrated the killings became celebrities. They go on talk shows and are openly known for such killings. The documentary takes a film crew, goes to the gangsters, asks them to tell their stories in their own words, and, even further, tells them they’re going to give them money and resources to make movies about the killings.

Cutie and the Boxer – (straight from Wikipedia) In New York City in 1969, 19-year-old art student Noriko fell in love with 41-year-old avant-garde artist Ushio Shinohara and put her career on hold to marry and support this rising star of the Manhattan art world. After 40 years, their roles shifted. Now 80 and still struggling, Ushio is consumed with reinforcing his legacy via his ‘boxing’ paintings, while Noriko is now finding her own creative voice through a series of drawings entitled “Cutie And Bullie” that depict their chaotic relationship and her desires to escape her husband’s shadow and be respected as an artist in her own right. “Cutie And The Boxer” is a powerful and poignant documentary about creativity, sacrifice, and a love that is its own unique work of art.

Dirty Wars – (from Wikipedia) Investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill travels to Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, and other countries where the United States has taken military action. In Afghanistan, he investigates the United States military and government cover-up of the deaths of five civilians, including two pregnant women killed by US soldiers from the Joint Special Operations Command. He also investigates the U.S. assassination of an American citizen named Anwar al-Awlaki. The documentary also shares testimonies from CIA agents, Special Forces operators, military generals, and warlords backed by United States.

The Square – (from Wikipedia) The Revolution in Egypt has been a continuing political drama over the past two and a half years. For most people the news will only provide a glimpse of one of the bloodiest political battles, an election, and a million man march. At the beginning of July 2013, the viewer witnesses the second president deposed and removed within the space of three years. The Square is a stimulating experience, transporting viewers into an intense emotional drama and the personal stories behind the news. It’s an inspirational story about young people claiming their rights, struggling through multiple forces: from the brutal army dictatorship willing to crush protesters using military tanks, to a corrupt Muslim Brotherhood using its mosques to manipulate the voters

20 Feet from Stardom – This is a documentary about backup singers and finds out what kind of lives they have.

One thing I will say about this category — typically, every year, I will only watch one documentary. This year, I may end up with four. Usually, though, the documentary I’ve watch has, in the past, been the film that won. Because if it gets through to me, then chances are it’s a film with mass appeal that will fare very well in an open vote.  So, seeing as how there is one documentary on this list that got me to see it before nominations were announced (and, admittedly, another one that was a surprise snub from this list as well), I’d say there’s a pretty good chance that one is going to win. But, there are two more on this list that could win, and one of them I might end up seeing. I truly think this one is a two-horse race. Pretty much what it comes down to is what mood the Academy is in this year, self-important 12 Years a Slave/Inside Job mood, or fun, uplifting, American Hustle/Undefeated mood. Maybe they’ll split the two. Maybe they won’t. I don’t know. They seem to alternate. Recently, they’ve been pretty populist in this category. Since 2005, their winners have been — March of the Penguins (fun), An Inconvenient Truth (important), Taxi to the Dark Side (important), Man on Wire (fun), The Cove (important, sort of. Clearly not in the same category as the others, but it definitely was more populist than Food, Inc. that year), Inside Job (which beat Exit Through the Gift Shop), Undefeated, and Searching for Sugar Man.

Just looking at those winners against what they beat, I actually think I know which way this is going.

Rankings:

5. Cutie and the Boxer – It’s not gonna win. It’s not substantial enough. They will not vote for this over the other four. Trust me. The way something wins this is through lots of buzz spread around town. This has none. I’m surprised this was even nominated. Either way, it’s clearly your #5 and has no shot.

4. Dirty Wars – It might get some votes, but I’m pretty sure it’s not the “important” film in the category. I feel like if you polled people about their awareness of the five films, this would be fourth of five. Though, of course, you have to see all five before you can vote on the category (or at least say you’ve seen all five. It’s pretty murky as to how all this works). And based on how this one is told, I just don’t see it garnering enough support for a win. Can’t see it. I’d feel like I was throwing a category away if I picked this to win. Clear #4.

3. The Square – It’s gonna get votes, I think. There’s an interesting top three this year. There’s the all “fun” one, the all “important” one, and the one that’s a mix of both. This is the all “important” one. Egypt, revolution, people dying, all of that. If they want to go this way, they will, and there’s nothing that can stop them. But honestly, taking a step back and looking at the category, and the history, and all of that — I can’t see this winning. It’s not a big enough issue for them. I doubt this will rouse them enough to vote for it. Think about it. What “important” documentaries have won lately? Global warming. Torture by U.S. soldiers. The financial collapse. All America-centric. Nothing like this about another country has won in the past decade. Not a single one. The closest that’s won is Born into Brothels, which isn’t really something that resonates as big as this does, politically. So I can’t see this really winning, even though this has Netflix behind it and will get a lot of exposure. Just can’t see it. It hasn’t won anything (well, that’s not fair. It won Best Direction from the DGA for documentaries), and it frankly would surprise me to see this win over the other two

2. 20 Feet from Stardom – This has a lot of support from people. It has gotten universal acclaim, and is seriously a major contender to win this award. I think it’s a two-horse race, and so far, I can’t see much separating the two outside of what mood the Academy is in this year. I had heard good things about this before it was making the rounds for nominations, and I’m still hearing great things about it now. To the point where, if I can see this before the ceremony, I might sit down and watch it. Mostly to see if it’ll help me make my vote. But, right now, I’m considering this second purely because this is just something that feels good whereas the next film is something wholly unto itself. (Plus, wouldn’t it be appropriate if a film about backup singers ended up being the second place finisher at the Oscars?)

1. The Act of Killing – This is the first documentary I saw this year. It’s the only one that was able to pique my interest enough to where I went, “Yeah… I’ll see that.” The premise alone makes you want to see it, and then when you do… it’s really something. That final scene is incredible. And the idea itself is just brilliant. Have mass murderers reenact their killings. You see how crazy the whole thing is by what their idea of a dramatization of it is, and it forces them to relive the whole thing and even put themselves in the other person’s place for a few seconds. The whole thing is just riveting. I truly think they’re gonna go this way, because you have the “important” aspect of it, along with the fact that they’re reenacting Hollywood, which Hollywood loves, and the fact that everyone is going, “Did you see this?” and passing it around to each other. I think this is your favorite, and I actually think this will ultimately be the film that wins the award. I wouldn’t be surprised if 20 Feet from Stardom won instead, but I think this is gonna be your winner. Put it this way — if this wins, no one feels bad for 20 Feet from Stardom. But if 20 Feet from Stardom wins, people are gonna go, “Wow, I can’t believe The Act of Killing lost.” Which is why I think this will be your winner. Right now, I consider this the favorite to win.

(Note: I’m watching 20 Feet from Stardom as this article goes up. Really curious to see how this shakes out now that it’s open voting in this category.)

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So that’s Documentary Feature. Tomorrow, we move along with Best Animated Feature, since it’ll be nice and easy to talk about, since we pretty much know what’s winning.

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