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BLACK
HISTORY
MONTH
February 22, 2017
My Top 10 Films of 2016 o PinionAted
This year,
J udge
by
d arleen o rtega
there’s more
overlap with
the Oscars
I see more than 150 films each
year, including all the films nomi-
nated for Academy Awards for Best
Picture and Best Documentary and
nearly all those nominated for Best
Animated Feature and Best For-
eign Language Film. This year my
list of the 10 best films out of all
of those I saw shares more over-
lap than usual with the Academy
Awards -- perhaps in part because
of the pressure on Hollywood to
notice the work of artists of color,
which tend to dominate my list.
Often the most remarkable work
is done from the margins, never
more so than in times of increased
oppression and flux. So here's the
whole list, with fuller descriptions
and links below:
"Moonlight": This is that rare
year when a universally acclaimed
film deserved and received an Os-
car nomination along with a lot
of other awards -- and, in an un-
precedented twist, a movie that
lauded on African American men
and boys at a level of complexity
“Moonlight,” portrays African-American males as beautifully com-
plex and not reduced to the flimsy stereotypes so often presented
on-screen. The Oscar-nominated movie is the best film of 2016 as
rated by Opinionated Judge Darleen Ortega, the Portland Observ-
er’s film reviewer.
that we rarely see on screen. Take
TOP 10 FILMS FOR 2016:
a note: It is written and directed by
1. Moonlight
two black men. Lifting up the sto-
2. I Am Not Your Negro
ries of those at the margins must
3. 13th
include a commitment to giving
4. Two Trains Running
them agency to tell their own sto-
5. Fences
ries. If this film loses out in the
6. Presenting Princess Shaw
best picture and director catego-
7. Zootopia
ry to the vastly overrated "La La
8. Loving
Land," my voice will be included
9. Paterson
in the chorus of groans you may
10. Aquarius
hear. [Not rated; nominated for,
and should win, Academy Awards
for Best Picture, Best Director,
Best Supporting Actor (Maher-
shala Ali), Best Cinematogra-
phy, Best Film Editing (co-editor
Joi McMillon is the first African
American woman nominated for
an editing award!), Best Adapted
Screenplay, Best Supporting Ac-
tress (Naomie Harris) and Best
Original Score. Moonlight is also
on the top 10 lists of at least 189
other film critics.]
"I Am Not Your Negro" is so
powerful and so resonant that it is
really too much to absorb in one
viewing. Director Raoul Peck has
assembled the script from only the
words of James Baldwin to pro-
vide a window into race and rac-
ism in America that is truly with-
out parallel; every view moments
I wanted to pause to absorb the
profundity of what had just been
spoken. Much is in Baldwin's own
voice, including footage from an
astounding 1968 television inter-
view by Dick Cavett that would
have been mind-blowing if it had
happened yesterday; the rest of
Baldwin's words are uttered by
Samuel L. Jackson. The power
of the words is aided by images
assembled from the civil rights
era but also from the current day.
Baldwin speaks prophetically --
and by that I do not mean predic-
tively, but in a voice so clear and
true that it is outside time, even
now decades after he uttered them.
Baldwin is mindful of his loca-
tion as what he terms a "witness,"
rather than someone attempting to
lead a social movement; he lived
a significant period of time in Eu-
rope and returned to engage with
the American civil rights struggle
largely from the position of astute
observer and friend to its leaders.
The clairvoyance he displays from
that vantage point makes the case
for the prophet, and specifically,
this prophet, an African Ameri-
can gay man. This film is the best
documentary I have seen in a very,
very long time, and I expect to re-
turn to it again and again. [Rated
PG-13 for disturbing violent im-
ages, thematic material, language
and brief nudity; nominated for,
and should win, the Academy
Award for Best Documentary Fea-
ture; on at least 26 other critics'
top 10 lists.]
C ontinued on P age 7