Of course you already know that the winner of the 2009 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature is The Cove, the film about the illegal and heinous slaughter of dolphins by local fishermen in Taiji, Japan. Leading up to the Oscars, the film was recognized with top awards from the Directors Guild, the Producers Guild, many critics groups and numerous film festivals. It had wide theatrical distribution and was also available on DVD.
We predicted The Cove would win, although Documentaries.About.com readers who voted in our Oscars poll thought Burma VJ would take home the golden statuette.
The Cove, with its spy thriller style and wide distribution, certainly reached audiences who don't usually watch documentaries, and showed them that nonfiction features can be every bit as exciting and entertaining as narrative films. In fact, all of this year's Oscar-nominated documentaries pushed the verite envelope to varying degrees by making creative use of re-enactments, unusual cinematography, graphics, animation and other stylistic elements to effectively convey their stories and impart information about the important issues being raised.
The Cove clearly advocates the termination of the dolphin slaughter and the capture of dolphins for sale to marine theme parks. In the film, former dolphin trainer Richard O'Barry -- he trained the dolphins who played Flipper on the popular television show -- rues his role in making dolphins popular tourist attractions.
Apparently, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and those who were calling the shots on the Oscars presentation, were more concerned with the film's fine cinematic qualities than with the issue. When The Cove's director, Louie Psihoyos, spoke of O'Barry's ongoing mission, and O'Barry raised a sign suggesting that audiences send text messages to oppose dolphin slaughter, the awards show's cameras cut away from the stage and transitional music began to play over Psihoyos' voice. Oh well.
In general, the Oscars presentation went smoothly, but there was a jarring glitch that occurred during the acceptance of the statuette for Best Documentary Short. The award was given to Music of Prudence, an inspirational documentary about disabled music makers in Zimbabwe. Apparently the film's director and producer had a major falling out during the shooting and editing of the film. Their disagreement took center stage when producer Elinor Burkett interrupted the acceptance speech of director Roger Ross Williams.<p> In what has been called the "Oscars' Kanye moment" (referring to Kanye West's demonstration at MTV's Video Music Awards), Burkett seized the microphone and delivered a speech of her own. Eventually, both the director and producer pointed to Prudence, who was sitting in the audience, and the cameras focused on her. Following the show, Salon.com's Kerry Lauerman interviewed the director and producer, who explained their positions. So, the wide world gets to see that in documentary filmmaking, there's often as story behind the story -- as there is with narrative features where battles over credits can sometimes hold up the release of a project. Documentaries, too, have their Hollywood moments. You can watch the video of this one.
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