Hollywood had a great opportunity to criticize Donald Trump and his style of governance at the Oscars last night. After all, even the film that portrays him as a sleazy character, "The Apprentice - The Trump Story," was among the Oscar nominees.
But the industry, which had mostly spoken out against Trump during the election campaign, kept its mouth shut this time and followed the "don't make a fuss" logic.
The host's announcements and the winners' speeches were strikingly apolitical. Perhaps with the exception of the Israeli director and one of the authors of the film "No Other Land", who criticized US Middle East policy in his speech. But even in that speech, the name of the current US president could not be heard. Anyone looking for negative comments about Trump at this Oscar ceremony could only find them in the movies.
Criticism of society instead of political speeches
The American Film Academy, which selects films for the Oscars, has given the most space in the most important categories to films dominated by criticism of American society.
In addition to the winning film "Anora", the acclaimed film "Brutalist" criticizes the differences between the rich and the poor in the USA. Both films focus on the stories of migrants who fail to achieve the "American dream". In both films, the directors' sympathies are on the side of the oppressed, not the rich.
"Anora", which is the absolute winner of this year's awards with five Oscars in important categories, tells the story of a prostitute Anna (played by Mike Madison), who in New York meets Vanya, the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch, and their love story ends in marriage - to the horror of the groom's family, who want to annul the marriage with all their might.
The film "Brutalist" also focuses on a migrant, a Hungarian Jew and architect Laszlo Toth (played by Adrien Brody), who after the horrors of the Holocaust wants to start a new life in America, but that dream is destroyed by a super-rich family.
"The Brutalist" director Brady Corbett told Variety magazine that he wrote the script for the film during Donald Trump's first term. He kept in mind that the goal of right-wing conservative forces in the United States was to return to the 1950s, which in the minds of many still symbolize the golden age of the United States. "But the 1950s were a very difficult time," Corbett said.
Criticism of society, but not of Washington
And the double-award-winning musical "Wicked," an imaginative and colorful story about the events leading up to "The Wizard of Oz," can be interpreted as a critique of a society sliding into fascism. So it can't be said that this year's Oscars remained completely apolitical.
However, additional interpretation was often needed to recognize political remarks about the Trump administration, as in this case: commenting on the plot of the film "Anora", the program's host, comedian Conan O'Brien, said that he thought Americans were delighted that finally someone was showing "a powerful Russian" his teeth, alluding to Trump's condescending attitude towards Putin.
Oscar winner for best actor Adrien Brody pointed out in his speech, drawing on the character he plays in the film "The Brutalist," that persecution and systematic oppression are still widespread in the world.
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At one point, O'Brien warned actor Adam Sandler, who appeared in casual sportswear, "what does that look like," which many interpreted as criticism of comments made about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who appeared at the White House in a hoodie rather than a suit.
The Hollywood Reporter magazine speculates that the conspicuous absence of criticism of the events in the White House may be related to the fact that all of Hollywood wholeheartedly supported Trump's opponent in the presidential election, Kamala Harris, which ultimately did not bear fruit.
And perhaps Hollywood is also afraid of the growing influence of Trump's multibillionaire friends. O'Brien finally commented on Amazon's purchase of the rights to the James Bond films. "The new 007 will be some Amazon executive," the comedian concluded.
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