February 24, 2016
Page 5
Black History Month
My Counterpoint to the Oscars Snub
o PinionAted
J udge
by J udge
d arleen o rtega
Films with rich
insight to the
human condition
The Academy Awards, which
will air on Sunday, are gradually
making themselves irrelevant, as
they shamelessly overlook some
of the best work and promote only
a small and all-white cadre of per-
formers. In keeping with my own
tradition, I offer this list of the 10
best ilms of 2015 just in time to
provide a counterpoint, with a bit
of Oscar commentary thrown in.
I must acknowledge at the out-
set that this is a pretty heavy bunch
-- not a single comedy, and some
pretty dark themes. More than
half are foreign ilms and half are
not in English; I saw two at last
year’s Portland International Film
Festival (PIFF) and would have in-
cluded one more (“The President”
from Georgia) except that it’s not
had a DVD release in the U.S.
Still, all these ilms are rich with
To start, here is the list:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Timbuktu
Love and Mercy
The Salt of the Earth
Son of Saul
The Revenant
Tangerine
Leviathan
45 Years
Marie’s Story
PeaceOficer
insights about the human condition
and well worth plunging into their
depths. The truth-telling here is
beautiful and enriching.
1. “Timbuktu” is a devastating
examination of lived experiences
of jihad in a community in Mali.
Director Abderrahmane Sissa-
ko focuses his gorgeous ilm on
scenes of ordinary life in a Muslim
village under siege by outsiders
hired to impose religious regime
change, impervious to the entreat-
ies of even the local imam. Sissako
portrays the brutality of fundamen-
talism with quiet clarity: Rules are
imposed against music and sports
and mixed company -- and yet,
at every turn, the human spirit of
the villagers ights being crushed.
A group of boys assembles a soc-
cer game with an imaginary ball;
a woman whipped for singing in
mixed company turns her cries into
music; members of a small family
savor their love for each other and
dare to hope that humiliations will
end. This is both a universal vision
of human struggle against tyranny
and a window into very particular
aspects of an African culture that
has not found its way onto West-
ern movie screens. I saw this at
last year’s PIFF, and nothing has
topped it since. [Not rated; on at
least 76 other critics’ top 10 lists;
in Arabic, French, Tamasheq and
Bambara; nominated for an Acad-
emy Award for Best Foreign Lan-
c ontinued on p ages 8-9
Oscar nominated
‘Timbuktu,’ a
powerful African
drama about a
community in
northern Mali
under jihadist
occupation, is the
top ilm of 2015
as reviewed by our
Portland Observer
contributor and
‘Opinionated
Judge’ columnist
Darleen Ortega.
photo credit
l es f ilMs