Last Tuesday, the nominations for the 77th Annual Academy Awards were announced. One of the most controversial movies of 2004 besides Fahrenheit 9/11 was Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. Not to slight the accomplishments of the five films that were nominated for Best Picture, but in my opinion Mel Gibson’s film should have earned more nominations that it did. Cinematography, Original Score & Make-up are wonderful cinematic achievements but the mere subject matter of the film alone should have at bare minimum garnered a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination.
As a collector of all Best Picture movies since 1975 (the year I was born), I was looking forward to adding this powerful movie to my collection. Now it looks like one of the five movies below will sit next to my 2004 winner Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.