Countdown to the Oscars: Best Documentary Feature

Welcome to this year’s edition of Last Cinema Standing’s Countdown to the Oscars, where we will break down each of the 23 categories, analyze the films, and make some guesses at their awards prospects.

Best Documentary Feature

The nominees are:

Bobi Wine: The People’s President

The Eternal Memory

Four Daughters

To Kill a Tiger

20 Days in Mariupol

It would be wrong not to acknowledge the tragic death of Russian opposition party leader Alexei Navalny, the subject of last year’s Documentary Feature winner. Director Daniel Rohrer’s Navalny is a powerful chronicle of the bravery required to stand up to an oppressive regime. The film digs deep into the first attempt on Navalny’s life carried out by the Russian government. For a time, he and his family flee the country, but he is resolute. He will return and attempt to lead his countrymen out of the darkness of the Putin regime.

At many points, the film played like a eulogy for its then-living subject. When Navalny is arrested at the airport upon landing in Russia and imprisoned, we know this may be the last time we see him alive. He knew it, too, which is why he included a direct address to the camera with a message in the event of his death. You have probably seen it go viral online over the past couple weeks.

He said: “If they decide to kill me, it means that we are incredibly strong. We need to utilize this power to not give up.” At their best, the Academy Awards serve as a platform for these kinds of necessary messages. It’s up to us to listen and take action. 

Bobi Wine: The People’s President

The story at the heart of Christopher Sharp’s and Moses Bwayo’s Bobi Wine shares much in common with that of Navalny. The playbook of dictatorships does not change much from country to country. The film tells of popular Ugandan singer Bobi Wine, who runs for president in an attempt to oust the ruling dictator Yoweri Museveni.

His campaign is beset by threats of terror and harassment at the hands of the government, and finally, Wine is arrested on obviously bogus charges. Those who saw Navalny will recognize this series of events. Despite all of this and despite the dangers to his family and himself, Wine never stops trying to spread his message of unity and love. The film offers a fascinating insight into the heart of a man willing to put his country before himself and democracy before all else.

The Eternal Memory

Few documentarians are doing it like Chilean director Maite Alberdi right now. Her 2020 Documentary Feature nominee The Mole Agent was a fascinating, funny, and innovative look at aging and ways we treat the aged. For The Eternal Memory, she carries over the theme of aging but tackles a much more pointed subject to even greater emotional effect.

Augusto Góngora was among Chile’s most prominent journalists and an outspoken critic of dictator Augusto Pinochet. Almost a decade ago, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Since then, his wife of 23 years, Paulina Urrutia, has rarely left his side. The Eternal Memory is a love story that pulls no punches in portraying the horror of accelerated cognitive decline, but Alberdi never forgets the heart and humanity of her subjects. This is a gorgeous tribute to the power of love and a poignant study of what happens when that love begins to slip through your fingers.

Four Daughters

Two of the four daughters referenced by the title are no longer with the family at the center of this story. We will not really meet them until later. For much of this film’s runtime, the part of the daughters will be played by a pair of lookalike actresses. They will participate in reenactments with the two remaining daughters and the matriarch of this family. These reenactments will often be painful reimaginings of some of the worst moments of these women’s lives. Sometimes, it will be too much to bear.

Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania delivers one of the most unique and engaging documentaries of recent times, presenting the story of two young women who leave their family to join the Islamic State and the wreckage of the lives they leave behind. Ben Hania, a previous nominee for Best International Feature for The Man Who Sold His Skin, has a remarkable facility for getting her subjects to confront their innermost thoughts as though the camera isn’t even there. By the end, we feel that we have been nothing more than a fly on the wall to one of the strangest and saddest domestic dramas ever.

To Kill a Tiger

This is a movie about the gang rape of a 13-year-old girl and a culture that wants to make it her problem. Why was she out unsupervised? Why was she at the party in the first place? Couldn’t she just marry one of the attackers to keep the peace? The assault happened in a village in rural India, where the cultural norm is to handle these things within the community, which generally means forgive and forget. Boys will be boys. Or, men will be men. Whatever, it’s her fault.

It would be tempting to look at this as a case of a backward culture that needs to get with the times and join us in the 21st century. But, did anything I described sound very different from: Well, what was she wearing? It’s not different, and it’s a global problem, in this instance exacerbated by the cultural mores. The girl’s father, Ranjit, refuses to accept that things must be this way, and he decides to put his livelihood and the lives of his family on the line to fight for justice. It is an arduous, frustrating journey, and director Nisha Pahuja’s camera captures every remarkable moment.

20 Days in Mariupol

This is not just the most important documentary of the year but one of the most important documentaries ever made. The footage gathered and presented here by Associated Press reporter Mstyslav Chernov and the PBS Frontline team represents the definitive account of the early days of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. The images contained within the film are a brutal, disturbing, and honest account of one city’s calculated destruction at the hands of an attacking force.

Much of what we know of what happened in Mariupol comes from the footage captured by Chernov and team, who were among the last reporters with boots on the ground as Russian forces besieged the city. Occasionally, the film cuts to the news reports made possible by the very images we have seen the filmmakers gather. The film makes it clear that this war is a crime against humanity. Women and children are not only dying. They are being killed. Willfully and wantonly by a war criminal. If not for the images captured here in full color, it would be difficult to believe such inhumanity could be taking place. But it is, and these images can neither be forgotten nor ignored.

Editor’s note: Hollywood has largely proven itself hypocritical on and ill-equipped to deal with the genocide currently underway in Gaza. If there is any justice, next year, we will get equally compelling documentaries about what is going on in the Middle East right now, but in Hollywood, justice is often just for the movies.

The final analysis

Any of these films would be a handsome winner, but the firsthand power of 20 Days in Mariupol, combined with its ongoing political relevance, will be virtually impossible to overlook for voters. If you’re looking for potential spoilers, Bobi Wine has the power of Disney behind it and To Kill a Tiger can boast star executive producers Mindy Kaling and Dev Patel. In a more open year, these might be compelling factors, but nothing is more compelling than Chernov’s film.

Will win: 20 Days in Mariupol

Should win: 20 Days in Mariupol

Should have been here: American Symphony

A note about my favorite snub: Director Matthew Heineman is one of the finest documentary filmmakers working today. From Cartel Land and City of Ghosts to The First Wave and Retrograde, he has been unafraid to put himself on the frontlines of some of the most important fights in the world today. For American Symphony, he teamed with Netflix to bring to the screen the story of one of our most interesting contemporary musicians and his wife’s battle with cancer. It’s a tender, heartfelt project that dives as deep into the artistic and creative process as any film to come before it. Heineman will absolutely win one of these things someday.

Countdown to the Oscars: Best Documentary Short

Welcome to this year’s edition of Last Cinema Standing’s Countdown to the Oscars, where we will break down each of the 23 categories, analyze the films, and make some guesses at their awards prospects.

Best Documentary Short

The nominees are:

The ABCs of Book Banning

The Barber of Little Rock

Island in Between

The Last Repair Shop

Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó

The ABCs of Book Banning

It became clear to me while watching this wonderful little film that it takes stunning levels of weakness and cowardice to ban books. To fear ideas is to reveal one’s own lack of ideas. If you perceive the words on a page to pose a threat to your power, then you have no real power. Director Sheila Nevins rightly (and mercifully) leaves out these voices of fear, prejudice, and hate. The film points out that we have heard enough from them already.

Instead, Nevins, along with co-directors Trish Adiesic and Nazenet Habtezghi, trains the camera on those most affected by the backward-facing efforts of a few charlatans: the children. The filmmakers allow the children to summarize for us the stories deemed too controversial or corrupting to appear in schools. In most cases, the children then look straight into the camera and ask, Why? Why can’t they learn about Rosa Parks? Why can’t two male penguins have a family? Good questions, kids. Why, indeed?

The unfortunate answer is because a bunch of small-minded elites can feel their power slipping from them, and they will stop at nothing to reassert the control on which they thrive. The people who scream loudest about freedom are the quickest to tell you what freedoms you are allowed or what freedoms they will grant you. True freedom requires the open marketplace of ideas, and if your marketplace can’t handle a couple gay penguins, it’s time to burn it down and build a better one.

The Barber of Little Rock

I guarantee those same politicians and community members who don’t want children reading books also don’t want you seeing this film. From John Hoffman and Christine Turner, The Barber of Little Rock is about the damaging effects of race-based income inequality and the Little Rock barber who is doing something about it.

The film follows Arlo Washington, a black barber who founded a nonprofit community bank to help bridge the wealth gap in his area and provide opportunities to the people who are often left with nowhere to turn. There are interviews with community members who have received assistance, and they talk about the lack of options and lack of hope for black community members. 

In just 35 minutes, the story covers everything from the structures in place to keep certain communities down to the small ways individuals can truly make a difference. It is an urgent examination of the need for local solutions to global problems. Washington is just one man who saw a need in his community and set out to make a difference. It is an example from which we can all learn.

Island in Between

S. Leo Chiang’s portrait of the Kinmen Islands, which sit uncomfortably between China and Taiwan, is a powerful reflection on being caught between two warring worlds. One wishes Chiang had gone deeper into the specifics of the conflict, but perhaps anyone well versed in history would find such a recap dull and redundant. Instead, the director creates more of a collage of life on an island where you can see your enemy’s shores from your own beach.

In fact, there are still tanks embedded in the sand from the most recent Chinese aggression. But, even with the threat of war ever looming, life on the Kinmen Islands goes on. Children go to school. Shoppers shop. Influencers take selfies on the beach. It is a fascinating liminal space in which to exist. One cannot live life in fear, but it is also impossible to forget the reality, particularly with the pro-Taiwan propaganda speakers blaring from the beach.

The Last Repair Shop

From the directing duo that brought us 2020 Documentary Short nominee A Concerto Is a Conversation comes the story of the repair shop that handles musical instruments for Los Angeles public school students. This is easily the most complete and well produced film of the bunch, and directors Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers put as much love and care into the film as the craftspeople they depict put into their work.

The film is broken up into four chapters, each devoted to a different member of the repair shop staff. Proudfoot and Bowers must have been ecstatic to find such an eclectic group of people who have lived such remarkable lives. From a bluegrass performer who once opened for Elvis Presley to a piano enthusiast whose family escaped the Armenian genocide, the film packs a tremendous amount of information into a short timespan.

Yet, the filmmakers never forget their mission: to highlight the importance of musical education for school children. We get a number of interviews with the kids, who talk about their love for music and how much their instruments mean to them. The expertly constructed film makes it clear that without this repair shop, thousands of kids would have no outlet for their creative talents and, furthermore, how sad a world that would be.

Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó

If have seen the footage of the Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó team reacting to their Academy Award nomination, then you already understand how this story of two Chinese grannies has resonated so far and wide this Oscar season. The film is a beautiful tribute to love, friendship, and the joie de vivre to which we should all aspire. Yet, it does not shy away from depicting some of the harsher realities of aging, and in their own small way, these women become heroes of a sort, refusing to give in quietly to the neverending passage of time.

Filmmakers Sean Wang and Sam Davis have the women try on a number of different costumes and film them in a variety of humorous situations. A personal favorite is of the two grannies watching Superbad, apparently for the first time. It’s just funny watching people watch Superbad – check out Saltburn for further evidence of this fact. 

But, the women make it very clear that their lives are not usually this exciting. They have a burst of energy from their grandson’s arrival. It is a reminder that loneliness can be just as devastating as age. Finally, the film becomes a profound statement on appreciating our loved ones while we still can. Thankfully for us, Wang and Davis have shared their appreciation with all of us.

The final analysis

A Netflix-produced film has taken this award in three of the previous seven years, but for the first time since 2015, there is no Netflix film in the lineup, leaving the door open to any of these shorts. As I write, I am waffling between The ABCs of Book Banning and The Last Repair Shop for the win. The timeliness and urgency of the message in ABCs may be enough to carry the day, but The Last Repair Shop does not lack for a message nor for quality. 

Proudfoot won this category as a solo director two years ago for the lovely The Queen of Basketball, and he would be just the seventh person to win multiple Documentary Short awards. When all else fails, though, the Academy does love a handsomely produced doc about the power and importance of art, so for now, I’ll lean that way, too.

Will win: The Last Repair Shop

Should win: The ABCs of Book Banning

Should have been here: Last Song from Kabul

A note about my favorite snub: It’s actually a little surprising the Academy did not nominate Kevin Macdonald’s doc about an orchestra of orphaned Afghan girls looking to keep their musical dreams alive amid the oppression of the Taliban. Macdonald is a previous Oscar winner for his feature documentary One Day in September and has a lengthy Hollywood resumé. Here, he has crafted a lovely ode to the endurance of the human spirit and the power of art and performance to remind us that more connects us than divides us.

Countdown to the Oscars: It’s Winning Time

The weather is warming up here in Los Angeles. Baseball is back, with a full slate of spring training games underway today, which means the long march to the Braves breaking my heart again can begin. The Warriors are playing well. And, we’re two weeks away from the Academy Awards. All in all, I am in my element.

So, why can’t I shake the nagging feeling that I’m kind of bored? Mostly, I would say it’s because this Oscars “race” has felt over for months. Oppenheimer debuted in July to critical raves and an adoring public. The film is a behemoth, the kind of towering, historical epic so often lauded by the Academy in the past, but it also has a new-school approach and aesthetic spearheaded by director Christopher Nolan. 

It is a perfect blend of the past, present, and future of filmmaking, exactly the kind of movie that will hold up over the years and decades to come as a great Best Picture winner. But, it’s still not that much fun to watch a single film run roughshod over the competition all season. With the exception of Best Actress – which, itself, is starting to feel a tad preordained – all the top categories feel well and truly decided. There’s no intrigue.

Anyone waiting for a Moonlight- or Parasite-style shocker on March 10, I fear, is going to be sorely disappointed. Those were great, David vs. Goliath stories about the Little Movie That Could sneaking in at the last moment and taking down the giant. Could Oppenheimer be on a La La Land trajectory, winning everything all the way to the big show, then winning virtually every award on the night, only to fall short at the finish line? Sure. But, where’s the David that’s going to fire the rock?

With a few notable exceptions, it is basically impossible to win Best Picture without at least a Director nomination, so let’s confine our analysis to that group. The movies with a shot to win are: Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon, Anatomy of a Fall, The Zone of Interest, and Poor Things. The most intriguing of these is Lanthimos’ Poor Things, so let’s save that for last.

Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest are the non-English language nominees this year, and both are spectacular. But, if Anatomy of a Fall were going to win, there would be more heat behind star Sandra Hüller for Best Actress. Instead, she’s probably running a distant third in that category. The film will challenge for Original Screenplay, but that won’t be enough to carry it. The Zone of Interest, frankly, is just too darn arty. Some of the more old-school members of the Academy are likely to be turned off by the cold remove of director Jonathan Glazer’s approach. It’s a hard film to love, and you need love to win.

Then, there’s Killers of the Flower Moon. Poor, Marty. Martin Scorsese is carving himself a very interesting niche in Academy history. Only six movies ever have received 10-plus nominations without winning a single award. Two of those were directed by Scorsese: Gangs of New York and The Irishman. The way this season is going, Killers of the Flower Moon is looking down the barrel of becoming the seventh member of that club. Oh, well. It’s no less a masterpiece.

Finally, we have Poor Things, a big, bold comic sci-fi fantasy that is almost certain to pick up a number of below-the-line awards, as well as Best Actress for Emma Stone. One could imagine a scenario in which the combined support of the actors and craftspeople pushes this film near the top of a lot of ballots. But, that’s exactly the same support in the corner of Oppenheimer, which will win many crafts awards and more than likely two acting Oscars. I just don’t see an open lane for anything else to slide into.

Nolan’s epic will almost certainly march to the stage triumphantly and with little resistance. At least it’s a great movie, and though Nolan has never been to my taste, Oppenheimer is an undeniable achievement (give or take a drunken wife character with nothing to do). I can rest easy knowing the future holds a Best Picture win for Oppenheimer, but knowing the future sure isn’t much fun.

So, we’ll spend the next two weeks looking for fun in the other categories. It’s definitely there to be had. Keep checking this space each day for thoughts, analysis, and predictions leading up to the 96th Academy Awards.