Reflections from the pensieve

Avatar was favorite to win the Best Picture at the 82nd Academy Awards, I did my petty predictions and the only one which went awry was this. <<see my predictions here>> Going by the Golden Globes where Avatar swept off all the awards, it was a pleasant surprise for many who saw Hurt Locker walking away with the Oscar statuette at the 82nd Academy Awards. Many of Avatar fans considered Hurt Locker a win cause it was a Women's day and hence Oscars made history by giving it to a woman, blah Oscar date for this year would have been arrived at long long back and they wouldnt have been sure that Hurt Locker would make it to the final list, a more fitting movie would have killed it chances, only that none came except for Avatar. So what made Avatar the highest blockbuster ever in the world loose out to one of the lowest box office collectors The Hurt Locker.
The reasons
a) Avatar is not a war story, any war story believe me has a big mileage. Avatar has a war ingredient but it is fantasy, Hurt Locker is about a real day to day death situations that American forces face in Iraq. Normal people sentiments go with the war heroes, go with the army and hence any movie based on war has higher chances to win an Oscar than others, having said this people simply didn't go to the plexes / theatres to watch a war movie. Strange!!! and yet it walks away with the Oscars.

b) Avatar as I said before is fantasy, its animation and not many animated movies have made it to the final list before. The only one to make it was Beauty and the Beast. Hurt Locker by far was very very close to reality or rather lets say was reality only. So as my good friend Minoy said he would rather look at a more human film winning the Oscar than an animated one. Avatar was an animation movie yet not entirely one of them.

c) Avatar does not have a strong story behind it. Many people have accused Avatar of being no different than Dances with Wolves, FernGully: The Last Rainforest and Pocahontas. So without a good story its chances diminished

Having given all these reasons you might be wondering why in the earth did I choose Avatar above Hurt Locker. First of all this category win came as a shocker to me, I didnt expect Avatar to not win even a single major award. I was prejudiced and rather confident that the Oscar jury would be biased towards Avatar, that said without doubt Avatar was a marvel and I went 3 times to watch it in a theatre. Avatar was a treat to watch, had I missed Avatar at a theatre I would have repented but I cant say the same for the Hurt Locker. Hurt Locker was tense unlike Avatar, kept me on the edge of my seat, never gave me a chance to look aside apart from the screen lest I miss some earth shattering scene. Avatar was technically and visually best, but best picture goes to a movie which scores 10 in all departments. Hurt Locker wasnt marvellous as Avatar but was strong very strong in its story, screenplay, action and acting, and direction something where I cant rate Avatar 10 on all fronts viz a viz the Hurt Locker. I can go watch Avatar again for its technicality and superb execution but I cant say the same for Hurt Locker, cause you wont feel the same tension gripping you afterwards, you know what's coming at you.