U.S. cinema in a crisis

Whatever the answer to that question, one thing is already sure: No matter who garners an armful of Oscars, the big winner will be global moviemakers, who have languished too long in the huge shadow of Hollywood's rich, but shockingly unimaginative film industry. "Only one best contender 'Erin Brokovitch' had its feet firmly planted in American soil - but even that was toxic," said Bruce Newman, film critic for the Knight Ridder newspaper chain.

The most popular movie, "Gladiator", is based in ancient Rome, starred an Australian and was directed by a Brit. Hong Kong sensation "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" won 10 nominations, a record for a film not in the English language, while even the drug drama "Traffic", which won five nominations, is based largely in Mexico. The remaining best picture nominee, "Chocolat", is perhaps the most international. Based in France, its actors speak in English, and it is directed by the celebrated Swede Lasse Hallstrom.

The foreign presence was equally as impressive elsewhere. Voters, like critics, recognized the superb work of best actor nominee Javier Bardem, almost unknown in the United States before his performance in "Before Night Falls". They also singled out Benicio Del Toro's Spanish-language performance among "Traffic's" wide-ranging, and largely English- speaking, ensemble while Juliette Binoche could challenge Julia Roberts for best actress.

In the director's category, Steven Soderbergh ("Traffic" and "Erin Brokovitch") was the only American director nominated. The other contenders are Ridley Scott ("Gladiator"), who is British, as is Stephen Daldry ("Billy Elliot"), while Ang Lee ("Crouching Tiger") is Chinese. So what to make of this foreign domination of Hollywood's premier movie awards?

"The academy is increasingly open to seeing film in general and the Oscars in particular as a worldwide stage," wrote Kenneth Turan, the influential critic of the Los Angeles Times. "If the nominations for the 73rd Academy Awards demonstrate anything, it's the academy's increasing willingness to look beyond the traditional kind of ponderous studio-produced Oscar pictures and venture into the headier arena of independent and even foreign-language films."

Andrew O'Hehir, writing for the respected Salon.com, said the success of Hong Kong's "Crouching Tiger" in garnering 10 nominations and becoming the biggest grossing foreign language film in the history of U.S. cinema was likely to provide a huge boost for the movie industry of the Chinese island. "Hong Kong's studios, with a two-decade backlog of action movies to peddle to suddenly curious Americans, must be drooling," he wrote.

To add to the sense of foreign invasion, the threat of an actors and writers strike still hangs darkly over the Hollywood film industry. Many studios are already making contingency plans to shoot movies in places like Canada, Hungary, the United Kingdom and Australia. "I've never seen anything like it," said longtime producer Ran Bergman. "Hollywood is facing a threat to its power if it does not match foreign movies for invention, originality and execution."

Turan, for one, said he believes the foreign success at the Oscars will provide a much-needed impetus to Hollywood moviemakers to move away for the jaded formulaic fare that dominates so much of the U.S. domestic box office and come closer to what critics consider good movies. "We don't have the Oscars to kick around anymore - at least not this year," he said. "The gap between what reviewers look on as the best work of the year and the choices of Oscar voters is smaller than it has ever been."

(la/dpa)