Why The Dark Knight Should Have Got The Best Picture Oscar

In June of last year, I went to the cinema one weekend to see one of the movies I’d been waiting for for a very long time. This movie was The Dark Knight, the new Batman movie from director Christopher Nolan, who also directed Batman Begins. I had incredibly high hopes after reviews from critics who praised it and comments from movie website IMDb. However, although I thought it was fantastic, something inside me just felt a little disappointed. Maybe it was the huge anticipation that ruined it for me, but I still found it to be a great movie. But it wasn’t all there.

Then, later that year, I purchased the DVD copy of The Dark Knight, slipped it into the DVD player and sat back to watch it again. After two and a half hours, I realised that this movie was a masterpiece of epic proportions. And I thought to myself “this is my favourite movie of all time and nothing is ever going to beat it”.

And in January of 2009, just a couple of weeks ago, I went onto IMDb, just having a look at any new images of movies that would be coming out soon. And there was something below the search line, which read “Oscar nominations revealed” or something along those lines. As you can imagine, this took my interest. So I clicked on the link and, sure enough, there was a long list of all the Oscar nominations. I scrolled down a little to read “Best Motion Picture of the Year” and, as usual, there were five movies in this category. These were The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/ Nixon, Milk, Slumdog Millionaire and The Reader. All great movies. But wait a minute, where the hell’s The Dark Knight, which is the best movie of the year?! I re-read it and it still wasn’t there. What the f***?!

So, as you can imagine, I was unbelievably pissed off at how the people at the Academy Awards seemed to just ignore the best movie of the year and not even nominate it. I went on the website’s message boards and replied to several posts, complaining about the non-nomination. What, could they not get it into their heads that The Dark Knight is so much more than a superhero movie?

Yes, this is what I strongly believe The Dark Knight to be. It’s not just a superhero movie. Nolan could have easily gone down the wrong direction and made it into just another pointless Batman movie in which Batman kicks the crap out of another evil, power-hungry villain, like the Schumacher atrocities did. No, like he did with Batman Begins, Nolan created an intelligent and intriguing crime thriller which will never be forgotten.

I’ve heard a lot that many people seem to be under the impression that Heath Ledger’s performance as villain The Joker was only Oscar nominated because of his death in January of last year, and that his death was the cause of the movie’s immense box-office success. I strongly disagree with this due to one reason: why would someone go and see a movie at the cinema primarily because one of the cast members died before it was released? To me, that’s weird and a little creepy. And he has been nominated because he gave one of the best performances ever put to screen. He completely sank into the character and made The Joker into an intriguing, lovable yet evil villain, which many, including me, were obsessed with. I actually have several drawings of him on my bedroom door, and I’ve drawn countless others.

The movie also has a strong message to it, which is one that is against anarchy and chaos. It also shows how both these things could spiral out of control just because of one man who wants these to happen. This is something that I don’t think anyone else but Nolan could have done. Tim Burton came close with Batman and Batman Returns, but Nolan’s Batman Begins and The Dark Knight top those.

Anyway, I’m appalled that The Academy Awards couldn’t even nominate The Dark Knight for Best Motion Picture of the Year, which in my view it is. Personally, I think they chickened out because they thought it was just a superhero movie, which it’s clearly a lot more than. I say f*** the Oscars.