You're right, couzz.
Perhaps the Spaniards thought it would be good for their cinema to show they have something besides Almodóvar. And they sure do.
THE ACADEMY ACTING NOMINATIONS VS THE SCREEN ACTORS GUILD NOMINATIONS
In the LEADING ACTING categories the Academy mirrored SAG's choices with the exception of one actor. Michael Caine was chosen by the Academy instead of SAG's choice--Richard Gere. In the leading actress category, the lists were indentical.
There were a few more changes in the SUPPORTING ACTOR/ACTRESS categories. The Academy chose Paul Newman and John C. Reilly instead of SAG's Alfred Molina and Dennis Quade. For the actresses, Meryl Streep (Academy) replaced Michelle Pfeiffer (SAG).
Recently Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper were upset that the Brazilian film "City of God" (Fernando Meirelles' film that goes to the streets of Rio de Janeiro and teenage gangs) did not make the top five nominees for the Oscar category-- Best Foreign Fanguage Film of the Year.
The five foreign language films nominated are:
"El Crimen del Padre Amaro"
An Alameda Films/BluFilms/Foprocine/Gob. del Estado de Veracruz-Llave Production/Mexico
"Hero"
A Beijing New Picture Film Company/Elite Group Enterprises Production/People's Republic of China
"The Man without a Past"
A Sputnik Oy/Pandora Film/Pyramide Prods. Production/Finland
"Nowhere in Africa"
An MTM Medien & Television München Production/Germany
"Zus & Zo"
A Filmprodukties de Luwte Production/The Netherlands
Ebert mentioned it on their weekly show this morning and called for changes in the manner in which films are selected. Actually he said the academy should find some people who know foreign film better than the current committee.
Let's think of all the really bad films that have won the Best Picture Oscar ...
The Last Emperor
Gandhi
And the flawed films ...
Did Schindler's List win BP? That was flawed.
