As two most possible 2010 Oscar winner, The Hurt Locker and Avatar aroused heated discussion before the Academy Awards: Which one could triumph at the 2010 Academy Awards, Avatar or The Hurt Locker?
Some people predicted that The Hurt Locker would be the biggest winner, while many made a bet on Avatar, as it is the most popular film of all time, having great reviews and being beloved by audiences. But, the academy went for Hurt Locker over Avatar. On the eve of International Women's Day, The Hurt Locker exemplified its great success by taking home six academy awards, including best picture and best director for Kathryn Bigelow.
Why The Hurt Locker Beat Avatar?
The two films had the same numbers of Oscar nominations, but what The Hurt Locker had that Avatar didn't were acting and screenplay nominations to complement their technical ones, which slightly became a disadvantage to Avatar. We may wonder what about other factors. Here's the possible reasons.
Film with a Substantial Message
"Oscar likes films of importance, with a capital I," said Leonard Maltin, a film historian. "Often they're big films, but this is a small film that dealt with a really important subject." While the Academy often honors big, sweeping films, which The Hurt Locker is certainly not, it also looks for films with a substantive message.
"This isn't that kind of muckraking film aiming to show torture or violation of rules of war; this is a film about men trying to save lives rather than take them. It's also a buddy story. It has classic war-movie themes." said film professor Robert Sklar about The Hurt Locker. Although Avatar's been applauded for its breath-taking visuals the story leaves a lot to be desired.
An Apolitical Film about Iraq
Although it's a film about Iraq, it's an apolitical one which didn't force viewers to make a political judgment about the war. Instead, it lets viewers experience "firsthand the terror and horror of what it's like to live in a sun-baked hell where everything could, literally, blow up in your face at any moment." (Global Times) The Hurt Locker was said to be the first financially successful Iraq film since the 2003 invasion.
Starring
The movie Hurt Locker was shot with a cast of relative-unknowns, so the audience wouldn't be to guess which of three main characters was going to die. Usually, with no big acting names can be an important factor in Oscar victory.
Low Budget and Box Office
The Hurt Locker was a low-budget movie, costing only $11 million, while Avatar cost $237 million to make and another $150 million to market. But, the box office turned out differently. The Hurt Lock has taken in just $14.7 million domestically, becoming the lowest-grossing film ever to win best picture, compared to an amazing $720.6 million for Avatar. However, Oscar voters didn't seem to care about box office.
