The Oscars - The Winners

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The 2011, 83rd Annual Academy Awards

When we look back over the last decade of the Oscars, we can see a rough pattern has started to develop; One film seems to dominate.

At the start, in 2000, we saw Ridley Scott's 'Gladiator' sweep up five of the major prizes, setting the high standard for the new millennium. In 2002, 'Chicago' won Six, and was followed by 2003's 'Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King', winning a total of eleven Oscars, tying it as the highest Oscar winning film of all time.

In 2007, the major prizes where won by the Coen Brothers, for their epic 'No Country For Old Men', one of the few western based films to win several academy awards - Danny Boyle's 'Slumdog Millionaire' followed in 2008, winning at total of ten Oscars, just one shy of that top spot alongside 'Titanic', 'Ben-Hur' and 'Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King'.

Finally, last year we saw Kathryn Bigelow make history as the first female director to win an oscar with 'The Hurt Locker', following in the footsteps of 'Chicago' by winning six.

So why have this years Oscars' been so evenly distributed?

There is no doubt that this year was very successful for English film, 'The King's Speech' winning four of the biggest awards: best picture, director, actor and original writing seals its place as one of the best British period dramas of all time - but why, when ordinarily a film of this calibre would go on to sweep the majority of the awards, has 'The Kings Speech' failed to do so? The answer is simple, the competition was too high.

Two films this year won four Oscars; 'The King's Speech' and 'Inception', followed closely by 'The Social Network' that won three, a spread of awards between three films of completely different genres. Other films like 'Toy Story 3', 'The Fighter' and 'Alice In Wonderland' won two Oscars, whilst all others remained at one or none. Taking these films alone into account, we have an animation, a fantasy, a period drama, a life story, a mystery sci-fi and a biographical drama, genres that require experts in different fields of film making - and that is why the 2011 Oscars were not dominated by one film.

'Inception' for example could not compete with directional style of Tom Hooper for 'The Kings Speech', but equally, 'The King's Speech' had no contest with 'Inception' in terms of visual effects and sound - the films this year had specific areas of excellence, unchallenged by others, but restricting them to fewer awards.

Not all of the winners were correct however. In my opinion, 'True Grit' was a film worthy of academy awards; if not best picture, certainly best supporting actress and costume design, and though 'Inception' was a film accurately constructed, best cinematography I feel was stolen from 'Black Swan'. Finally, as one of 'The Social Networks' Oscar, best editing seemed to stray to the wrong winner. '127 Hours' or 'The Fighter' were more deserving of the award.

All in all, in terms of the major awards (Picture, Director, Writing, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress) these seem to go to the most deserving, with the possible exception of supporting actress. A good year for English film, but a strange competitive year for overall winners. 

The Other Nominees: 

Best Picture:

Black Swan  -  The Fighter  -  The Kids Are Alright  -  Winters Bone  -  Inception  -  127 Hours  -  The Social Network  -  Toy Story 3  -  True Grit (2011)

Best Actor

Javier Bardem  -  James Franco  -  Jeff Bridges  -  Jesse Eisenberg

Best Actress:

Annette Bening  -  Nicole Kidman  -  Jennifer Lawrence  -  Michelle Williams

Best Supporting Actor:

Jeremy Renner  -  John Hawkes  -  Mark Ruffalo  -  Geoffrey Rush

Best Supporting Actress:

Helena Bohnam Carter  -  Amy Adams  -  Jacki Weaver  -  Hailee Steinfeld

Best Animated Film:

How To Train A Dragon  -  The Illusionist

Best Original Screenplay:

Another Year  -  The Fighter  -  The Kids Are All Right  -  Inception

Best Writing Adapted:

True Grit (2011)  -  127 Hours  -  Winters Bone  -  Toy Story 3

Best Foreign Language:

Biutiful  -  Outside the Law  -  Dogtooth  -  Incendies

Best Art Direction:

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part One  -  Inception  -  True Grit (2011)  -  The King's Speech

Best Cinematography:

Black Swan  -  The King's Speech  -  The Social Network  -  True Grit (2011)

Costume Design:

True Grit (2011)  -  I Am Love  -  The Tempest  -  The King's Speech

Documentary Feature: 

Exit Through The Gift Shop  -  Gasland  -  Restrepo  -  Waste Land

Best Editing:

Black Swan  -  The Fighter  -  The Kings Speech  -  127 Hours

Best Makeup:

Barney's Version  -  The Way Back

Best Original Score: 

How To Train A Dragon  -  Inception  -  The King's Speech  -  127 Hours

Best Original Song:

'If I Rise' - 127 Hours  --  'I See The Light' - Tangled  --  'Coming Home' - Country Strong

Best Animated Short:

Let's Pollute  -  Day & Night  -  The Gruffalo  -  Madagascar, A Journey Diary

Best Sound Editing:

Toy Story 3  -  True Grit (2011)  -  Tron: Legacy  -  Unstoppable

Best Sound Mixing:

Salt  -  The King's Speech  -  The Social Network  -  True Grit (2011)

Best Visual Effects:

Hereafter  -  Iron Man 2  -  Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part One  -  Alice In Wonderland