The Oscars have come and gone, and some of us passionate lovers of films are left wondering. Maybe it’s just me, but I really believe that the Shape of Water was definitely not the best choice for best picture. Many of us knew that it was going to win, but I like to believe that there are plenty of us who believe that other films were more deserving.
Why did it win anyway? The film is just above average, nothing too special, and not bad either, but definitely not worth this most prestigious Oscar award. It was visually amazing, had a great and passionate story, everything about it was good. It was just not best-picture-worthy no matter how good it was in many ways.
I like to believe that the wins are usually politically motivated because they really sure seem like they are. Oscar so white was a problem before and then the next year Moonlight won and so many African American actors, actresses and more won as well. There’s a problem with so many nominees in so many categories usually being men. Now they are slowly rectifying that, with more and more women being nominated.
Immigrants are an important topic in the US now, and del Toro is an immigrant. Besides that, the movie deals with topics that are in the highlight of public life at the moment. Topics like lack of communication, the “lower” people being ignored, and more. There’s also the fact that people are finding their inner strength in the film under great oppression from more powerful forces (the state) and this is certainly appealing to all of us in this day and age.
That’s all done really well, and del Toro certainly did a great job directing it and deserves his best director award. However, the best picture is too much as the film is all in all really just above average. And more importantly, there were so many other films that were more deserving of this award! Three Billboards for example – a masterpiece in every way. Call Me by Your Name – also a love story and much better and fluid than the Shape of Water. What about Get Out? An utterly unique film with an important message which was shown in the most amazing and original way imaginable.
With all of these other films, I just can’t see the reason why the Shape of Water won best picture. I just can’t, even though I like the film.
