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Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Hats off to the Ledger family

Sunday was the Oscar's and I watched most of it. Over the years I've always watched it all, from start to finish. It used to be such a big part of my life that I would make sure I saw all the movies that were nominated for best picture before the airing of the awards. Sometimes I also had Oscar parties.

For some reason, I just couldn't get excited about it this year. I don't know if it's something I'm out growing or if it was the selection of movies that I just couldn't get excited about. Who knows? I didn't print a ballot and pick my winners. I didn't get special Oscar food. I didn't get a live link on the Internet so I could watch the walks off the carpet. I didn't dive into the Oscar website and read every article. I just didn't have it in my this year to care.

BUT. Yes, there is a very big BUT here.

Heath Ledger. Ledger was nominated for best actor for his outstanding work at the Joker in The Dark Knight. I want to say that his portrayal of this role was incredible. It blew me away. he was scary all the way down to his walk, the twitches, the tongue rolling, the manically laugh. He embodied that character and made him super creepy. His death had nothing to do with his ability, in my eyes. I thought his performance was astounding.

I wanted to watch the Oscars this year to see if he won. And he did. And it was amazing. His mum, father and sister accepted on his behalf. they did have prepared speeches. They were not overly emotional. They were not gut wrenching, it didn't tear at my heart strings. But it was touching and powerful. It was classy, and I think the simplicity of their acceptance, their grace under this tragedy made it a celebration of his life and Ledger's body of work. It was their classy words that made tears in the eyes of the audience flow.

Well done. Well deserved. And one of the best Oscar moments I've ever seen.

This is why I love the magic of Hollywood,
Maggie

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