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FILM:
Uruguayan Wins
First Oscar Ever Awarded to a
Song in Spanish
Raúl Pierri
MONTEVIDEO, (IPS) - The Spanish
language scored a major surprise
victory in Hollywood when
Uruguayan singer-songwriter
Jorge Drexler won the Oscar for
best original song, which formed
part of the soundtrack of the
movie ”Motorcycle Diaries”.
Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony
was the first time, since that
category was created in 1934,
that a song written entirely in
Spanish not only received an
Oscar, but was performed in the
ceremony itself.
The Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences invited
Spanish actor Antonio Banderas
and Mexican guitarrist Carlos
Santana to play Drexler's song
”Al otro lado del río” in Los
Angeles' Kodak Theatre.
Their decision was based on the
fact that Drexler is unknown in
the United States, although he
is becoming increasingly
well-known in Latin America and
Spain.
The 40-year-old Drexler, who
spoke with IPS by phone from Los
Angeles before the ceremony, had
expressed his annoyance at the
decision.
”The producers lacked even
minimum good manners. They never
asked me anything. They never
even contacted me to inform me
of their decision,” said the
singer, who added that the only
thing he received was a DVD from
the Academy asking the nominees
to keep their victory speeches
short.
But when he won the award,
against all predictions, Drexler
did not even give an acceptance
speech, but merely sang part of
the song and said thanks.
”I don't derive pleasure from
vengeance. I like to sing, and
that's why I sang on stage,” he
told the press later.
In protest against the Academy's
decision not to allow Drexler to
perform his own song, Mexican
actor Gael García Bernal, who
starred in the ”Motorcycle
Diaries”, boycotted Sunday's
ceremony, in which he was
supposed to present Banderas and
Santana.
Another Mexican, actress Salma
Hayek, took his place. In a
gesture of solidarity, she
translated part of Drexler's
song, praised it several times,
and stressed that it was the
work of a Uruguayan musician,
while the cameras focused on
him.
His song beat out ”Accidentally
In Love” from ”Shrek 2”,
”Believe” from ”The Polar
Express”, ”Look To Your Path”
from the French film ”The
Chorus”, and ”Learn To Be
Lonely” from ”The Phantom of the
Opera”.
The decision was also publicly
protested by the director of -
Motorcycle Diaries”, Brazilian
filmmaker Walter Salles, in a
press release.
The award will, without a doubt,
provide an enormous boost to
Drexler in the United States,
where his album ”Eco”, which
includes the prize-winning song,
was released.
”Motorcycle Diaries” tells the
story of an eight-month journey
across South America that
legendary Argentine-Cuban
revolutionary Ernesto ”Ché”
Guevara made in 1952, when he
was 23, along with his friend
Alberto Granado, a 29-year-old
biochemist.
What most impacted Guevara, a
medical student, on the trip was
coming face to face with
devastating poverty, which
helped trigger his political
awakening.
”It's a metaphor for a personal
journey in which someone is
faced with different ethical
options. It's a trip that
changes the traveller, and
forces him to take risks,”
Drexler told IPS.
”What I most liked about the
film is that it focuses on
Guevara as a human being, rather
than on political aspects -- on
the decisions that we have to
make in our lives,” he added.
Other Latin Americans who were
nominated but did not take home
a statuette were Puerto Rican
playwright José Rivera, the
author of the movie's
screenplay, and Colombian
actress Catalina Sandina Moreno,
who was nominated for best
actress for ”Maria Full of
Grace” about a young woman who
becomes a ”drug mule” smuggling
heroin into the United States.
Sunday's big winner was Clint
Eastwood, who took the Oscar for
best director for ”Million
Dollar Baby”, which also won the
prize for best film, while its
star, Hilary Swank, took the
award for best actress.
Spanish once again became a
protagonist in the ceremony when
the film ”The Sea Inside” by
Chilean-Spanish filmmaker
Alejandro Amenábar garnered the
Oscar for best foreign film.
But ”Motorcycle Diaries”, an
international -- U.S, Argentine,
Peruvian and Chilean --
co-production, did not qualify
for that category.
The film was produced by
Hollywood actor and director
Robert Redford, directed by
Brazil's Salles, perhaps
best-known for ”Central do
Brasil” (Central Station -
1998), and edited by another
Brazilian, Daniel Rezende, whose
work shone in ”Cidade de Deus”
(City of God - 2002).
The original soundtrack was by
Argentine composer Gustavo
Santaolalla, who has won two
Latin Grammies and produced the
Bajo Fondo Tango Club, a fusion
of electrotango, pop and rock.
The screenplay, which the Puerto
Rican-born Rivera based on
Guevara's journals and a book by
Granado, lost the competition
for best adapted screenplay to
”Sideways”.
On Feb. 12, ”Motorcycle Diaries”
picked up two BAFTAs (British
Academy Film Awards), for best
film not in the English language
and best soundtrack. It had been
nominated in seven categories,
including best film.
The film, which won praise in
Cannes and received a standing
ovation at the Sundance film
festival, has become the top
Spanish-language box-office hit
in the United States, bringing
in nearly 14 million dollars
since its release in that
country early this year.
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