MovieChat Forums > Utomlennye solntsem (1995) Discussion > How does this film get an Oscar

How does this film get an Oscar

posted 20 years ago by NikDimitro
17 replies | jump to latest

I dont know if anyone know how does the acadamy give an Oscar for best forigner movie.First after each forigner country will send one movie to the academy they selected five of those.so for the members to have a right to vote they should have seen the five movies that are nominated.in this case when this movie was nominated there wasnt any official distribution of this film in USA,so many of the members couldnt watching it.there was a special presentation of this movie(it was shown only two times)in front of the members of the academy,so it was seen by only lets say 200,300 members and only those members had a right to vote for the nominated movies(of course if they had watched the others four).just for the record the academy has about 2000 or 3000 members.this movie won an oscar but i think that Before The Rain deserve it becouse is far more beautifull,not that i didnt like this movie it is sure one of the best mede in that year but to be honest i cant compare it with Before The Rain.Anyway getting the Oscar doesnt mean anything,for example even Kubrick didnt won an Oscar for best film and director(excuse me he won for Special Effects).

[–] slacker-25 19 years ago

if "Oscar doesnt mean anything" why do u care?

[–] Alexandar 19 years ago

I disagree. Watching Burnt by the Sun was a sheer delight for me. Real piece of Art. Although I am half-macedonian and liked Before the Rain it fails in comparison

[–] bagtown2002 19 years ago

This is an outstanding piece of Drama and I would never deny it an Oscar.

[–] TheWanderingFish 18 years ago

Yeah, Roger Ebert agrees with you. I don't, but we all have our own opinions. (I hope)

Note: The above comments are exclusively my opinion.

---Respect---

[–] hawaz01-1 18 years ago

I just finished watching it... but "Before the Rain" followed by "Eat Drink Man Woman" were the best in the year 1994. (in this category)

[–] davebamford94 18 years ago

This film gets an Oscar because it is a stunning, moving portrayal of life under Stalin seen through the eyes of the common man, which is incredibly rare these days. Also rare is to find a fim that works on so many levels, and that has so much to say. So many films now seem to have pointless plot devices, 1-dimensional characters and no real meaning. This film is the opposite if that. Loved it.

[–] maxi13 8 years ago

who was a "common man" here?
aristocratic backgrounds
extraordinary well-known military commander
upper class bourgoise

not that i say anything against the movie,
but common people in russia were not this way at that time

[–] tapdanze 18 years ago

Although I loved "Before the Rain", I think "Burnt by the sun" was far more proficient and artistic. For example, the London scene in "Before the Rain" was absolutely pointless in my opinion, "Burnt by the sun" did not contain any such unnecessary scenes. Also, if you know the history of Russian literature, especially the end of the XIX. century (Tchekhov), then you will notice that the movie is very complex, filled with allusions to Russian culture. But, let me repeat, "Before the Rain" is also one of my favourites, especially with its music, I just don't think it's better than the Mikhalkov movie.

[–] hawaz01-1 18 years ago

The point of the London scene in "Before the Rain" is that it is, in fact, pointless...

No layers, no deep plot to go through it, no nothing - just pure violence. Without any point. Of course, you can go deeper in analysing it. (search for the cause, and watch the epilogue shown at the end of the scene – does the point/cause matter?) So, yes - it really does serve the spirit of the movie.

Anyway, both films are totally different, and every person experiences (or should experience) them differently. I’d still choose "Before the Rain". But I also love "Burnt by the Sun".

[–] tapdanze 17 years ago

No, I meant that I would have skipped the whole London Scene out of the movie (not only the restaurant shooting); I see that the point of the restaurant scene was to show pointlessness but still the story of the photographer just didn't fit into the frame, I think.

[–] Alexandar 17 years ago

In Burnt by the Sun i found many levels. Although i didnt't care much about political context of the movie (!), it was detail, atmosphere, tone... very cathartic felling all way through...

www.psmovies.co.sr

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] henrimaine 11 years ago

I don't know if Burnt By the Sun was better or worse than its competitors in that year. But it was the right film at the right time. The Soviet empire had just collapsed and it was the right time to do a film about the evils of communism. In this sense the film was very timely. I believe that might have influenced the academy decision.

[–] maxi13 8 years ago

for sure

[–] maxi13 8 years ago

but you are wrong if you think its just a matter of time… of acutality.

the USSR collapsed in Decembre 1991
the war in bosnia and everything you see of Macenodina in "Before the rain" would have happened after 1992.
You hear the song "Check Your Head" of Beastie Boys several times in the movie "Before the rain", which also means it happens after 1992, because that was the year this song was released.

The war in Bosnia was till 1995, so it happened even at the time the oscars were given for "Burnt by the sun".
"Before the rain" was even more actual than "Burnt by the sun" was.

So its more a matter of politics.
In "Burnt by the Sun" they can see the cruelty of communism.
though they can say they are somewhat liberal,
cause they can admit that some russians are friendly.
the system is shown as a cruel one.

and yes... Stalinism WAS without any doubt a cruel and horrible system.
(but Stalinism mustnt be equalized with communism at all.)

anyway! US-Americans were ever told that the USSR is evil, that communism is evil,
so there was the prove.
and thats much more interesting for the US audience
than a war in a country the most dont even know where it can be found on a map.

though i think the right film got the oscar
its also a product of phantasy that there is anything who can say one film is better than the other.
those 2 films can hardly be compared.
in one sense "Before the rain" is better, in another "Burnt by the sun" is better.
the last one is much more entertaining and also in this sense its the "better" film for an american audience.

if you like those foreign films the Oscars are choosing, okay…
everyone has its own sources of informations
but i think Cannes is much better in choosing the best films of europe and the cinema of the world.
but that are just my personal experiences.
others like Sundance-Films most, others those of Venice or Berlin-festival.

Oscars are much too much overrated!
they are like music charts.
those films are maybe most entertaining,
but like in the music charts
you can hardly find real art there

[–] Teremov 8 years ago

The Soviet empire had just collapsed and it was the right time to do a film about the evils of communism.

Exactly, a pure definition of a propaganda movie. As well as an example of how Oscars are won today (not to mention it's a French production). Ironically, the movie borrows a lot from Mikhalkov's earlier movies (A Slave of Love, An Unfinished Piece for a Player Piano, Oblomov), basically a remake of all of them. Yet those earlier - much superior - films weren't even nominated for Oscars. Politics rules, and that's bad.

[–] Stratego (29255) 7 years ago

You're just parrotting Ebert...in very bad English.