It has been eight days since “The Green Book” won the 2019 Oscar for Best Picture.  This controversial choice has raised a lot of backlash in the film community and American society at large.  I am not here to judge if the Academy is fair or not. However, I want to share my experiences with the Oscars and other top awards.

First, the 2019 Oscars had a chance to award a really good movie that properly addressed the problematic race relations in the United States and they totally blew it.  BlacKKKlansman, by Spike Lee, was competing for the Best Picture and 5 more other categories.  After winning the Grand Prix in Cannes last year, this “Spike Lee Joint” only won for the Best Adapted Screenplay, which seems to me to be a consolation prize.

As a teenager in the ’90s, I was blossoming into a film nerd.  Watching the Oscars was only natural.  It used to be a much anticipated ritual for me and my sisters. We had weeks of discussion analyzing the possible winners for each of the main categories. The night of the event, we would be set to check our bets. It’s important that you know that I grew up in São Paulo, Brazil.  It means that when celebrities walked the red carpet and took their seats in L.A. around 5 pm, it was already 11 pm in my hometown.  By the time the first envelope opens it’s 2 am. At my school, only the tough ones had survived through the whole ceremony and would still manage to make it to class the following day.

I became disenchanted with the Oscars in1999, when the Brazilian feature “Central Station” was running for at least two Oscars,  Best Foreign Language Film and Best Actress for Fernanda Montenegro.  It lost in the first category to “Life is Beautiful”, by Roberto Benigni. I thought it was a fair loss, not only because I loved “Life is Beautiful”, but also because it portrays a story that resonates with a larger audience than “Central Station”.   However, Fernanda Montenegro and all the of the other Best Actress Nominees were robbed.  In all of our bets, we could never imagine a scenario in which Fernanda Montenegro, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett and even Emily Watson would lose to Gwyneth Paltrow…ugh, the Goop woman. 

I am very thankful to have realized the true meaning of the Oscars. That meant no more sleepless nights watching some vain film award ceremony. Nowadays, there are a whole bunch of celebrated events such as the World Cup and Super Bowl that I don’t waste my time watching. It is not about talent or physical strength, but only about the best sponsor.

There may be a minor grudge at its root, but I feel like I have realized the true driving force of the Oscars.  In a way I am relieved, because it means no more sleepless nights watching some vain film award ceremony.  In fact, nowadays, there are a whole bunch of celebrated events such as the FIFA World Cup and the NFL Super Bowl that I don’t waste my time watching.  In my opinion, it is not sincerely about raw talent or pure athleticism, but the deck is stacked and the game is rigged because it is about the commercial incentive to award one actor or one team over another.  

I am not surprised at all by the Oscars choices and it only reinforces my decision to forgo watching the Oscars ceremony. I did think though that Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s performance was great.