Oscar upsets: unexpected win for Japanese film Departures

February 23, 10:03 PMLA Foreign Movie ExaminerLydia Ianni

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Poster for Departures.

In one of the biggest upsets of last night's Oscars, the Japanese film Departures won Best Foreign Language Film. The film had a number of factors working against it. One of which was very stiff competition. The Israeli film Waltz with Bashir was heavily favored. Bashir had already made the film festival circuit and ended up on most of the pre-Oscar predictions. An animated film that deals with an Israeli soldier's painful and disturbing memories of war, the film had been praised for innovative use of animation. The film also enjoyed more of a theatrical release than any of the other films nominated in this category, meaning it had far greater exposure than the other films. Its other competition was the French film The Class, a film that deals with race in an inner city French school. Everyone's money was on one of these films last night. And apparently, we were all wrong. 

Departures'  win last night was also unexpected as it was the only Asian film nominated. Really, it was the only non-Western film nominated since Waltz with Bashir is from Israel and calling that a non-Western nation might be a bit of a stretch. Overwhelmingly the Academy has chosen European films, with a few notable exceptions. The last Asian film to win this award was Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon from Taiwan in 2000. But before that the last Asian film awarded was in 1955. Clearly, this is a bit of a rarity.

So how did this happen? Honestly, I'm not sure since this seems to have taken many people by surprise but I've been thinking really hard. This may be a way for the Academy to signal that it is trying to be a more inclusive institution, looking beyond the cinema it usually rewards to include non-Western films.

Another possible reason is that in many ways Departures is a feel good film in this oh so trying of times. Most of the Academy Awards last night went to Slumdog Millionaire, a film that despite dealing with difficult subject matters is ultimately a feel good movie. With the economy in the tank, many are looking to the movies to make them feel better and frankly I feel that the Academy may be following suit. Now Departures may not seem like a likely candidate for a feel good movie, at least on a surface level. An unemployed cellist who becomes a mortician sounds like kind of a bummer really. But in actuality the film is often funny and its main character unexpectedly finds new meaning in his life when he discovers how rewarding helping people through the grieving process can be. Possibly the Academy voters simply didn't want to reward a film like Waltz with Bashir that can be at times disturbing when so many are looking to films for an escape. Well, that's all I got. To be honest, I'm still scratching my head.