Oscar-nomics: Best Foreign Language Feature

Or

As was the case with Documentary, I have been unable to catch any of these cause they are generally in very limited release at this time. That being said, there is a rule towards voting in this category: In order for your vote to be considered, you must go to each of the Academy's screenings of the films to be able to vote. This narrows the field of voters to those who have time to do this, which generally means its the older members who are generally voting in this category. While there have been rules instated to avoid a rather rude snub of critically acclaimed films, foreign films that have won in this category have generally been safer films, so front-runner A Separation is actually in a weaker position than one might have originally thought. Even though it did receive a writing nomination, unless those writers see the other screenings then their votes are for naught. While I would predict this one in a heartbeat, I am placing it as my runner up so that if I am wrong, I'd be happy rather than guessing it, getting it wrong and be sad. That being said, here are the nominees:

Bullhead (Belgium): Michaël R. Roskam
Footnote (Israel):  Joseph Cedar
In Darkness (Poland): Agnieszka Holland
Monsieur Lazhar (Canada): Philippe Falardeau
A Separation (Iran): Asghar Farhadi

Generally, the more reserved, less out there films are the ones that get the gold, and from what I have seen of Bullhead, I don't think its right up the voter's alley, so I think it is a longshot. Footnote has a decent shot at winning, but tragicomedies, or comedies in general, don't often find much love here in terms of wins. That being said, with A Separation being my runner up, its between Monsieur Lazhar and In Darkness for the win, in my opinion. In Darkness, tells the tale of escaped Jewish men and women during the Nazi regime through the sewer systems in Poland. The other, Monsieur Lazhar, tells the story of a classroom in which a teacher, who happens to be an alien from Algeria, comes in and shakes up the educational system. The safe money would be on In Darkness, but I think the length (2 hours and 24 minutes), might hurt its chances. I am going out on a limb for Monsieur Lazhar, because I think its a rich story and personally I see it as the only one that could really take out A Separation. Again, I am convinced that A Separation has the Oscar almost locked, this is more of a devil's advocate in case my theory is true about the voters and their thoughts of such diverse and challenging films as A Separation. I will claim a half point if it does win, yet another category I am hoping my prediction is wrong, we shall see.

Winner: Monsieur Lazhar

Runner-Up: A Separation

Should Win: A Separation

Should Have Been Nominated: The Skin I Live In (on the basis that I was unable to truly catch any foreign films this year sadly)