I don't think you should overlook the role of Tsotsi, which highlights the cultural, economic, emotional and psychological divide between rich and poor, hope and despair. Although set in South Africa, it could have taken place in New Orleans or ghettos of L.A. or New York and brings to mind Katrina and all of its much more disasterous consequences for the poor, black and dispossed vs. those with access to power, wealth and the ear of the administration. After all, it was Trent Lott's porch that got more attention from the White House than any of the hard hit poor districts of Louisiana and Mississippi!
Tsotsi was a much more timely film in many ways than either Sophie Scholl (which I have seen) or Joyeux Noel (which I have not). It's acting, sound, editing, cinematography, art direction and not only its screenplay are absolutely astounding. So you should not overlook it in this year's Oscar contest!

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I personally am boycotting that gay cowboy movie. I think they slipped it in there for shock value. I imagine some screenwriter got really coked up and went: "Cowyboy! Yeah, yeah, they are, like, a symbol of masculinity and all that. Well, let's make them gay! And lovers! Can I get a 'Hell Yeah!'" Stupid.

That and that fact the Oscar are considered a venue of protest. The Oscars! Nope, I'll stay in filthy, corrupt Russia, thank you. At least until my home country returns to sanity (a long shot, I know).

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Is there anything behind these nominations? No, I think it is simply a case of the only good films in the past year happening to be so-called 'progressive' films. Wait til next year for the Oscars to revert to type.

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Please don't tag Mr. Stewart as a liberal - he's a comic genius who appears to be interested in democracy. The media created 'liberal or conservative' box is complete BS. In a democracy there will be hundreds of different viewpoints, not just two. The struggle in this country is NOT between 'liberals and conservatives', it's between democratic and totalitarian viewpoints and institutions. Stewart has punctured liberals and conservatives alike, and he makes us laugh our heads off (unlike say, Michael Moore - sorry buddy, but that sanctimonious tone gets old fast). Of course, this administration seems to go out of its way to provide him with good material. Ol Cheney is out there hunting the Wild Turkey right now, I imagine - did you see the way that Secret Service agent tried to hide a smile on national TV when the spokesperson was saying 'he had nothing to drink'? Yeah, we all saw that. Hopefully he didn't puke on you.

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In spite of the self congratulatory remarks of the film mavens over this year's nominations, the bottom line is that the film industry lost a lot of money this year. It has been said that this is because the "Bible Belt" or "Middle America" is angry at the films being produced and not going to see them. However, I wonder if the real culprit is DVDs. My adult children and I love film, but I would have to stop and think to give you an answer as to the last time we entered a theatre to see anything but the latest children's film. We all rent a lot of DVDs. "Walk the Line" which has been nominated in several categories went from first line screens to the DVD market in about six months. It would seem that the real target for the money makers is the home video market whether in personally purchased DVDs or through the rental organizations.

I frankly view this year's rush to make films about homosexuality as simply an attempt to milk what is perceived as the most lucrative market at this time. It is a wonder, in my mind, that such films as "Crash" or "The Constant Gardener" ever got made at all.

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Ditto for 2006 -- I am still BOYCOTTING the Oscars. I would like to thank the Academy for giving a racist award to Halle Berry for the most disrespectful film made to black woman. Had someone filmed Monster's Ball during slavery, I would have no complaint, because back then Master thought he had the right to have slave with the black female slaves. But to make and support some white-on-black porn action, under the guise of so-called "acting" is nothing more than sick! Any actress that would make such a film would have to have a huge "slave mentality" and be stupid on top of low self-esteem. I am fighting an EEO complaint at my job and the "white male supremacy" attitude here is rampant. The 5 white men involved in the complaint all cracked on Halle Berry the day after she won. Guess what? I agree with them that she does not deserve any respect or recognition for filming porn that makes black women look bad to racist white men who already think the worst of black people. In fact, the whites at my job went around and made it a point to ask every black employee what they thought about Monster's Ball. HOW EMBARRASING!!!! Films like Monster's Ball do nothing more than CONTRIBUTE to the notion of white male supremacy by EMPOWERING WHITE MEN. Is that what you really wanted to do when you had the nerve to even consider a porn movie to nominate for a black actress? The reality of the POWER of negative media about blacks in this country, is that this country is still too racist to have a movie like Monster's Ball win. This county is probably 10% black and if the majority of the country thinks the movie is disrespectful to blacks, then what difference does it make if part of 10% was fooled into thinking this was a really an award for good acting (because Halle Berry is pretty); and not a back-handed political move because of the war or the previous threat by the NAACP to BOYCOTT the Oscars. Regardless of good acting or looks, that has nothing to do with CIVIL RIGHTS and bottom line is that it was a disrespectful movie for the studio to film and even 100 times more disrespectful for the Oscars to nominate. Other than the fact that there was a bunch of horny white men in the Academy who voted on the movie so they could look at it again and again (SICK!!!). Remember Slavery? Back then white masters had sex with the black female slaves. Now we have Monster's Ball which recreates this sickness for white males today. I find it a hard-to-believe coincidence that a movie like this was the first to win for a black female actress. What are the odds?

Shame on the Oscars! I find it hard to believe that in 75 years you could not award a black actress in a film that was DECENT!!! By decent I mean how you skipped over every decent film contribution made by Lena Horne, Dorothy Dandridge, etc. and waited until a black woman was having "filmed" sex with a white man. That is sick! And any black who agrees or goes along with this crap must be BRAIN WASHED by the media.

After giving that award to Halle Berry, I quit watching the Oscars and I REFUSE to watch it again, until you or her apologizes for this blatant DISRESPECT FOR BLACK WOMEN!!!!!

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2004 Boycott:
Tomorrow is the big night -- Oscar night. Coincidentally, tomorrow is also the end of a month-long celebration for Black History Month.

What do these two events have in common?

For starters in 2002 the Oscars changed their history when they gave the first black actress a leading actress award, Halle Berry for Monster's Ball. She is one of 3 black actresses to win in the acting category, including Hattie McDaniel (Supporting Actress, 1940, Gone with the Wind) and Whoopi Goldberg (Supporting Actress, 1991, Ghost). One could joke and say that maybe the Oscars are given to black women every 50 years or so -- and that is the formula for success, if you are a black actress who wants one.

On a more serious note -- Black History Month comes to an end tomorrow. Millions of black children across the country were told about the history Oscar wins in 2002 win black actors took the leading male and leading female awards. Whether the winners admit it or not, they become a symbol of hope and a role model for black children all across America. Many of these children will be anxious to watch these "winner" and "role models" in the movies that earned their win.

So what's wrong with that picture? Oops, sorry kiddies. You can't watch Monster's Ball until you are an adult, due to the "R" rating. By comparison, Gone with the Wind is "G" rated. Ghost is also rated "R" probably due to the violence, but does not contain the graphic sex scenes that Monster's Ball has.

On any given internet site, you can go to a discussion or message board and read comments regarding Monster's Ball. At www.blackvoices.com there are still many debates concerning the "porn" factor of Monster's Ball and to a larger extent, what is porn?

A simple definition can be found at www.dictionary.com:
pornography
1. Sexually explicit pictures, writing, or other material whose primary purpose is to cause sexual arousal.
2. The presentation or production of this material.
3. Lurid or sensational material:

Still or moving images, usually of women, in
varying states of nudity, posing or performing erotic acts
with men, women, animals, machines, or other props. Some say
it degrades women.
As everyone knows, Monster's Ball is as famous for the sex scene as it is for the fact that the movie produced a Leading Actress award from the Oscars -- as well as a first time a black woman received the award.

Well, if you follow the thousands of debaters who believe that Monster's Ball is pornography -- then the next question might be, well why did the Oscars give the first award to a black woman for porn? Some answers might be:
1. The pacify the NAACP complaints
2. To prove Chris Rock wrong when he remarked million white man march
3. To make the case for the Iraq War stronger to the world by showing that the Oscar awards were not prejudiced
4. The awards are given to black women every 50 years, so it was time (just joking again)
5. Halle Berry was the first black actress to deserve the award and gave a better performance than any of the other black actress nominees and would be's such as LENA HORNE, DOROTHY DANDRIDGE, DIANA ROSS, CICELY TYSON, DIANNE CARROLL or ANGELA BASSETT.

Now that's a real long shot, when you consider Halle Berry's acting talent, compared to other legendary black actresses like Lena Horne or a contemporary like Cicely Tyson.

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Why didn't the Oscars ever award Lena Horne, Cicely Tyson or Dorothy Dandridge -- but instead waited to give the award to Halle Berry? That is a good question. You can't completely rule out racism, since Hattie McDaniels was the first black actress to receive an award in 1940. Her award was given out before the Civil Rights Act was signed, before blacks could ride at the front of the bus and years before the last lynching occurred in the United States. On the other hand, the year that Hattie was nominated, she and her escort had to sit in the back of the Ambassador Hotel's Coconut Grove nightclub.

And movies are a refection of our time. When Gone with the Wind came out, there were no Condi Rices, there were no Oprahs and black women were not computer-literate. Many of the black women during that time were limited to servant jobs. Most white people thought of black women as the mammy/slave type. It took years for black people to slowly change our image in TV and Movie roles and Lena Horne was a big part of that.

If that was the case for Gonee with the Wind -- then what happened with Monster's Ball? The movie is set in the 1990's but could easily pass for the 1890's due to the "slave master/concubine" hints that many in Black Voices said took blacks back 200 years. Does her character really represent black women of 2000? If you look at some of the black women in BET/MTV videos -- your answer might be maybe. But if you look closer at the black women who are doctors, lawyers, accountants, teachers, etc. -- then you will get a big resounding NO.

Of course movie studios have the right to make such films due to Freedom of Speech. And the Oscars have every right to award such films, whether they give a degrading image of black women or not. And whether or not the first black to win an award, did not ironically in a movie that contained graphic sex and nudity.

Dr. Martin Luther King once encouraged actress Nichelle Nichols to continue her role as Uhura on Star Trek because of the visibility of her character and its value as a role model. Dr. King wrote in 1962, "There are two types of laws: just and unjust. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was LEGAL. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust."

Was the award to Halle Berry for a "porn" role a slap in the face to Black women by the Oscars?
Does the Oscar's history show that they do not respect Black women?
Was the Oscars just as racist in giving an award to a black woman for porn, rather than not giving a black woman a leading Oscar at all?

There are many petitions, protesters and boy-cotters of Halle Berry, if you look closely on sites such as www.blackvoices.com, www.aintitcool.com or even www.movies.yahoo.com.

Some black people were happy that a black woman finally won, that they overlooked the fact that it was for porn. But many people, white, black or whatever did notice Halle Berry's porn factor in Monster's Ball.

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Here are few quotes randomly picked from the internet:
On a global scale, halle winning best Actress for "monster's ball" (Klansmans' VICTORY) ranks as THE darkest hour, the most sinister revelation of both industry and public, marking once and for all the death knell of black self-respect in American Society. The visceral, retina-burning sight of White trash B.B.Thornton, entering Halle's berry from behind over and over in what clearly , probably for the first time, was a mutual, contractual agreement by a studio and A -list actors to make what is nothing short of PORN. That's right america. this was a STRAIGHT UP PORN scene. REAL PENETRATION, And they got away with it unscathed. YOU CAN CLEARLY SEE Billy's Bob. inside Halle's Berry, but the film's ending is the MOTHER OF SELLOUTS. this is how the whites will see us: "hollywood or bust," regardless of what it does to The Black Mind, whose only escape is to trade dignity for false power. janet jackson is further evidence of this, and her mom ISNT white.
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the Monster's Ball movie showed me how bad white guys want to get them some of that chocolate. Ok, they created a whole scenario around it so it wouldn't look like a black woman had walked into a room and all of a sudden started humping a white man. And if you noticed (for those who saw the movie), she's the one who initiated; the black woman gets horny on the white man. Really, Monster's ball is (to me) an H.P.F. (Hollywood Porno Flick), i.e., the white man's fantasy of f#cking black women (just like they were doing back in the cotton fields). We should thank Halle Berry for making that possible for them.
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DISAPPOINTED IN ERIC BENET. WHY IN GODS NAME DID HE AGREE WITH HIS WIFE TO PLAY IN MONSTERS BALL. I GUESS HE WAS TO BUSY F***ING OTHER WOMEN TO CARE.. WE HAVE NEVER SEEN THEIR PRECIOUS JULIA ROBERTS PLAY IN A SEEN LIKE THAT. AS A MATTER OF FACT, SHE NEVER TOOK OFF HER CLOTHES TO BE THE 20 MILLION$ WOMAN SHE IS TODAY.
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Regrettably these folks have allowed white hollywood to pimp us, again. When are we going to wake up,I believe that the oscars are full of s***. Halle Berry could possibly be the best , but the oscars didn't award her until she took off her clothes. "Losing Isaiah" and "Queen" is when she should have gotten Oscars, but the whites didn't notice, until she showed her business.THE ONLY WAY A BLACK WOMAN CAN WIN AN OSCAR, IS TO F*** THE OPPRESSOR...SICK!! I'M TOTALLY
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I watched the movie at home on dvd and have absolutely no understanding how or why Hallie Berry won such an award for simply performing a graphic,immoral,perverted sex act before the world public.If this is what it takes for a woman to win an award for how well she can perform a sex act,then America certainly will drown in it's own filth.Sodom and Gomorrah is no match for America.Good looks and no morals isn't what life is all about.I do believe however, that this movie was given a perfect title in its truest context;and that is,a MONSTER was indeed having a ball with Hallie Berry.

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Halle Berry is the one black leading actress out of 75 past winners. On an "even playing field" the Oscars might have had the good taste to play fair by giving out awards when they were due. Skipping Lena Horne, Dorothy Dandridge, Cicely Tyson, Dianne Carroll and Diana Ross and giving the first award for an "R" rated film is not odd by itself. But when you stack the first award for a black actress compared to the 74 given to previous white winners -- it does seem "odd" that the first an only award given to a black actress was for an "R" rated film that borders on porn due to the sex scene. You would be hard pressed to find a majority of the white women who won, having to degrade themselves with sex scenes where they are "rammed from behind" as one internet commenter said. In fact, Jodie Foster, in The Accused would probably have the most equally degrading scene. But you have to keep in mind that 17 of the lead actress awards for were "R" rated films, 18 were for "PG or "PG-13" rated films, 3 were "G" rated and the remaining 40 were "Not Rated" by the MPAA. But I can assure you that none of those white actresses had to take their clothes off and do it "critter style" with Billy Bob Thornton.

If the Oscar awards originated in France, Italy or Britain, these comparisons would amount to a hill of beans. But when they come from an organization that has a history of racial discrimination, it doesn't take an "X-Files" theory to ponder the question of whether the "R" rated porn movie was an intentional slur against black women?

A person on one of the online protest groups is for Halle Berry's upcoming movie Catwoman remarked that the Oscars responded to complaints of racism by giving a "sarcastic" award for tokenism. And that person was not even from the United States. I can't imagine what people in other countries will think about Black Women in the United States when they see actually see Monster's Ball. Maybe they will think that black women have not made much progress in this country in the last 200 years. Maybe that's what the Oscars are trying to tell us in a sarcastic way.

You can fool some of the people all of the the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time. The Iraq War is a good example of that. When Bush first pitched the war -- most of the country was gung ho in supporting it. Now that the weapons of mass destruction are no more of a myth than the fountain of youth -- people have began to see the truth. It takes time to "turn the masses" around and show them the truth. Same thing with the JFK and MLK assassinations or with Vanessa Williams being setup for a downfall with the Miss America pageant. It takes time to sort out the truth so maybe one day people will realize that black people were compromised for porn due to a shiny gold object presented to a pretty face. The Oscar win for Halle Berry certainly forced many a black person to defend porn in order to defend her win.

Black America is slowly starting to realize that a shiny gold Oscar and a pretty face can't buy our dignity and respect. Black women deserve more than that. It is too late to recall Halle Berry's Oscar, so for many black women who were offended by the Oscars -- the only other options were to boycott the Oscars, boycott Lion's Gate films and boycott Halle Berry.

The Oscars owe an apology to black women for giving the first and only black actress an award for porn.

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To see the Oscars as a legitimate standard of cinematic merit is ludicrous. The majority of the Academy consists of actors, a striving set of individuals who are known primarily for their willingness to espouse any opinion that will advance their case. Their opinion of what is good is based mostly on how they thing "everyone else" (re: casting agents, other actors, etc) is voting. Rain Man vs Forrest Gump, weiner take all.

Add to this that the Oscars are now, and always have been, a marketing tool for the major studios. The very fact that the Academy refuses to distribute candidate films on DVD shows that the main intent is to retrench the vestiges of Old Hollywood and further insure that the mediocre cabal of producers and studios wil reign unchallenged.

And the show's a long fucking bore to boot.

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What's not spoken out loud often speaks most loudly. It appears that Hollywood's great sin this year is in having made a movie that speaks about gay love and does so with sensitivity and credibility. Even worse, the movie has been successful far beyond expectations. If the movie had been about a social issue dear to the left, the messages on this board would likely have been avidly supportive. But, unfortunately, on gay issues, much of the left is both overtly and covertly aligned with the religious right.

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