Was the Academy on crack? Montenegro should have won Best Actress!!!
In 1999 Montenegro was nominated for Best Actress for her beautiful, haunting performance in Central do Brasil. Next to her, Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth), Emily Watson (Hillary & Jackie), Meryl Streep (One True Thing) and Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakespeare in Love) were nominated. Paltrow, of course, won for her very mediocre performance in that godawful one-joke period comedy ("Shakespeare has writer's block", reasonably good idea that's stretched to a very tedious two-hour movie).
I remember that Montenegro commented on Paltrow's victory and her loss that year, stating that she wasn't surprised, because she thought that the Academy gave Paltrow the Oscar as a sort of investment as there were not that many virginal, innocent-looking young actresses like Paltrow in the industry. Giving her the Oscar would have meant that more young actresses would be encouraged to emulate her wholesome image. Well, I don't really think that it is nice to slag off another actress for winning the award that you were nominated for. (A couple of days later after her comment, Montenegro thought so too and stated that her words had been put out of context or that she was misquoted or something like that). But....somehow I can't shake the feeling that she was right.
If you look at the line-up that year, then I would say that even though Watson and Streep are great actresses, the roles in the movies they were nominated that year for are not representative of their best work. And as for Blanchett. Well, I wouldn't have been that terribly dissapointed if she had won. She had a very difficult role where she had to go from an innocent young princess into a full-blooded commanding queen. Blanchett's transformation was convincing and certainly entertaining to watch. But in the end, I do think that Montenegro was head and shoulders above everyone else that year. In Central do Brasil, she starts as a very bitter, selfish woman who is very unsympathetic and towards the end she changes more and more into a woman who has made peace with her life and past unfortunes. In the end you care for her a great deal, you've grown to love her character, understanding very well how she had become the person that she had become. Montenegro brings very subtle nuances to her role, suggesting all the disappointments that have hardened her soul under her characteristic face. The transformation of her character is extremely involving and if you don't cry at the very end for her, then it's best to check your pulse.
If it turns out that you're not dead at the end of seeing this movie, I defy you to not think that Montenegro was the best of the bunch that year and was robbed of her deserved statuette.