Monday Open Thread

It’s a beautiful Monday today! I’m glad we’re getting the spring weather finally. I guess Delaware Dem is going to remove that hit contract from Punxsutawney Phil now?

I was busy watching and tweeting away during the Oscars. Here’s the story behind one of the weirdest moments of the night:

The most riveting face-off during Sunday’s Oscar ceremony came early: When producer Elinor Burkett wrestled the microphone away from director-producer Roger Ross Williams after their film, “Music by Prudence,” won for best documentary short.

…

People are already saying you “pulled a Kanye.” What happened?

BURKETT: What happened was the director and I had a bad difference over the direction of the film that resulted in a lawsuit that has settled amicably out of court. But there have been all these events around the Oscars, and I wasn’t invited to any of them. And he’s not speaking to me. So we weren’t even able to discuss ahead of the time who would be the one person allowed to speak if we won. And then, as I’m sure you saw, when we won, he raced up there to accept the award. And his mother took her cane and blocked me. So I couldn’t get up there very fast.

Can you explain the reason behind the conflict?

BURKETT: The movie was supposed to be about the entire band, Liyana. And the [band members] were very clear they did not want to participate if it ended up being just about one person. The director and HBO decided to focus solely on Prudence . . .

…

But couldn’t you decide ahead of time who would speak?

WILLIAMS: That was handled by the publicist for the academy. I don’t know what they told her. The academy is very clear that only one person can speak. I own the film. She has no claim whatsoever. She has nothing to do with the movie. She just ambushed me. I was sort of in shock.

“The Hurt Locker” cleaned up at the Oscars last night, including the first-ever Best Director award for a woman, Kathryn Bigelow. But not everyone is happy with the film – it’s getting criticism from some veteran’s groups for small inaccuracies and also for portrayal of a reckless soldier:

In an interview, Rieckhoff said the anger about “Hurt Locker” stems not so much from such small inaccuracies — for example, the uniforms the soldiers wear in the film weren’t available until well after the time the story took place — but rather from the depiction of the main character, Sgt. 1st Class William James.

Portrayed by Jeremy Renner, who’s nominated for Best Actor, James is a daredevil who in one scene takes off his protective armor while disarming a bomb because, as he says, “If I’m going to die, I’m going to be comfortable.” He runs alone through the streets of Baghdad with his sweat shirt hood up like a gangster. Later, he takes two soldiers hunting for insurgents in Baghdad’s back alleys without any backup.

James’s fellow soldiers are, or try to be, by-the-book professionals. They call James “rowdy” and “reckless,” and one worries out loud that his leader’s crazy antics are “going to get me killed.” James is as much cowboy as soldier, and vets fear he could become an iconic figure in the American imagination should the movie win a bunch of statues.

“Films, almost more than anything, will be the way Americans understand our war,” Rieckhoff said. “So we feel that there is a responsibility for filmmakers to portray our war accurately. We see ourselves as watchdogs. . . . When he puts a hood on like Eminem and starts roving outside the wire, it’s ridiculous.”