Reddit mentions of Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood

The book Pictures at a Revolution by Mark Harris explores the best picture nominations of 1967. It doesn't translate exactly to what happened in 2000, but the deep exploration of these films and what it means to be an Oscar nominee for best picture makes for a good read. Recommended.

Just for reference, the nominations in 1967:

IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (winner)/
Bonnie and Clyde/
Doctor Dolittle/
The Graduate/
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

And in 2000:
GLADIATOR (winner)/
Chocolat/
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon/
Erin Brockovich/
Traffic

To relate this back to the thread, I think the fact that In the Heat of the Night won is the equivalent of giving the win to a movie like Traffic. They are both "message movies" about a social issue (as is Guess Who's Coming to Dinner). As great as both films are, I don't think either deserves best picture. While I enjoy films with overt political/social agendas, they generally tie the film to a specific historical moment. I think a "Best Picture" has to transcend the time it was created and still be accessible to future audiences. This is probably impossible to achieve in practice, and might not be the most important criteria for a best picture winner, but I think as a general guideline it works. The Graduate or Bonnie & Clyde are better films than In the Heat of the Night, and while they are products of their historical moment, there is a more "timeless" quality there too.

So should Gladiator have won? Well, if you're using my guidelines, you can rule out both Traffic and Erin Brockovich. I say this despite the fact that Soderbergh is probably one of my favorite contemporary directors and he did both films. I haven't seen Chocolat, but I don't think it has any cultural currency today. I realize Oscar voters can't predict how important a film will be in the future, but I think the entire point of even having these nominations is to make movies part of the established "Great Film Canon." Does Chocolat deserve that kind of recognition? I don't know, but my hunch is no. Then we're left with two epics, one a throwback to the glory days of the Hollywood studio system and the other a wuxia film with Chinese actors. I think I would go with the latter film, but I'm not surprised that the majority went with Gladiator.

My train of thought doesn't even address whether or not this group of nominees were the right choices. I don't think they were. I'm just saying that if you are given a list with those five films and have to pick, it is between Gladiator and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

This was way too long. I'm sorry.

TL;DR - Epic movies are probably a more appropriate choice for best picture than social issue movies.