This year, the Oscars made more headlines for controversy than the awards themselves. However, despite the roller coaster ride, the Academy Awards remain the highest pinnacle of success for a film. The Best Picture winner is remembered not just for its excellence, but for how it speaks to both the human condition and the culture at large.
The past decade has featured a motley crew of winning films. We’ve seen it all, from a Birdman to an interspecial romance. Some of these films are gimmicky and pandering, while others are innovative and enthralling. Which film is truly the best of the best? Here are the Best Picture winners over the past 10 tears, ranked.
The Artist (2011)
Of the past 10 Best Picture winners, three of them have centered around Hollywood — almost four, but we’ll get to that later. Hollywood’s self-love cup runneth over and The Artist is no exception. It’s a black-and-white silent film that finds a celebrated silent film actor (Jean Dujardin, who won for his performance) scrambling to save his career at the dawn of the “talkies”.
While The Artist has its charm, it relies too heavily on its silent movie gimmick. Instead of capturing the Golden Age of Hollywood, it feels like a cheap knockoff and we find ourselves pining for the real films of that era. Now that The Artist is almost 10 years old, all we remember is that it was a ho-hum movie that tried its best.
The King’s Speech (2010)
Who doesn’t love an underdog story? The King’s Speech depicts King George VI (Colin Firth) trying to work past his stutter in order to deliver a hopeful speech to the people of England at the onset of World War II. Firth is deeply moving and wholeheartedly deserves the Oscar he won for the performance.
The King’s Speech is a perfectly lovely film. But perfectly lovely doesn’t cut it for Best Picture, especially when up against The Social Network. The Social Network chronicles Mark Zuckerberg’s creation of Facebook and was widely lauded as one of the most relevant, gripping films of 2010. These two films were neck-and-neck in the Oscar race and it was believed that if The King’s Speech won, it would prove the Academy is still an “old boys’ club”.
Green Book (2018)
The most recent Best Picture winner has had a bumpy road to Oscar glory. Still, Green Book’s bad reputation is a little undeserved. The quality of a film shouldn’t be judged on the controversies surrounding it. At its core, Green Book is a solid, heartwarming buddy film about two disparate souls who learn and grow from each other.
That being said, it was hardly the best among the contenders. Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma and Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman were far and away superior films, both in terms of bold film-making and expert storytelling. Green Book covers familiar terrain that may have been pioneering 20 years ago, but its win feels stale today. The dedication to Carrie Fisher was sweet, though.
Argo (2012)
Though Ben Affleck was snubbed for a directing nomination, his historical drama-thriller went on to win the glory. Argo is the (mostly) true story of a CIA officer (Affleck) who enlists Hollywood’s help in extracting a group of Americans from Tehran during the Iran hostage crisis. Hooray for Hollywood!
Argo is a barrel of fun, though it lacks the emotional gravitas a Best Picture winner should carry. The film has also been widely criticized for downplaying Canada’s involvement in the mission, as well as its unfavorable depiction of Iranian people.
12 Years A Slave (2013)
12 Years a Slave is a haunting film about free man Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who was abducted and sold into slavery in the Deep South. The film is unrelenting in its brutal portrayal of this ugly chapter in American history.
The chilling images of 12 Years a Slave stay with you long after the credits have rolled. This is an important film, though at times the violence borders on gratuitous. The severity of Northup’s circumstance beats the audience with a hammer until the hopeful conclusion, which comes out of nowhere and doesn’t match the tone of the film.
The Hurt Locker (2009)
History was made when Kathryn Bigelow became the first female to win Best Director for this film. The Hurt Locker tells the story of bomb expert Sergeant First Class William James (Jeremy Renner) in the Iraq War, and the psychological toll a life of combat can take on a person.
In the wrong hands, films about war can be preachy and exploitative. But The Hurt Locker doesn’t stand on a soapbox, loudly proclaiming its thesis on the Iraq War. Instead, it tells the story of a soldier, plain and simple. The effects of the war resonate the loudest when (SPOILER!) James is back home on American soil. The Hurt Locker speaks volumes with its silence.
Spotlight (2015)
Spotlight tells the true story of Boston Globe journalists writing an expose on the staggering number of Catholic priests abusing children and the church’s massive role in covering them up. The film details this disturbing subject matter with a graceful, deft hand. The importance of the cause, met with the passion of the journalists, makes Spotlight a wholly engrossing film.
However, for some reason, people forget about this movie. Even during its Oscars season, many predicted the top honor would go to The Revenant, also known as the ‘Leonardo DiCaprio vs. The Bear’ movie (which would have been a better title). Thankfully, all was right with the world when the bear movie lost to the much more deserving Spotlight.
Birdman (2014)
One of the more polarizing Best Picture winners, Birdman tells the story of Riggan Thomson, a washed-up movie star (Michael Keaton) attempting a comeback as a serious stage actor. Some find the film pretentious, for its magical realism and ambiguous ending.
Then why does it rank so high on the list? It does what great art is supposed to do: generate thought, conversation, and debate. If one is able to place Birdman’s surreal elements off to the side, one might see a complex, poignant movie about trying to find relevance in a culture whose inhabitants are cursed with the attention span of gnats. Just like Thomson has both his actor and Birdman personas, don’t we have our real-life selves and the version we show on social media? Birdman captures this perfectly.
The Shape of Water (2017)
It is a rare occurrence for the Academy to give its top prize to a fantasy film. Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water takes place in Cold War-era Maryland and tells the story of a mute custodian (Sally Hawkins) who enlists the help of her friends in rescuing a scaled creature (called the “Amphibian Man”) from a government facility. A romance blooms culminating in one of the most head-scratching, but sweet, love scenes in recent history.
The film isn’t just a delight to watch. It gives power and a voice to those who have been silenced — women, racial minorities, people with disabilities, and the LGBT+ community. Though make no mistake, this is not a “message movie.” The Shape of Water’s stunning aesthetic is no mere distraction. Rather, it’s a teleportation device into a world where the impossible can be achieved, and love always wins.
Moonlight (2016)
When someone says Moonlight, everyone thinks of the “envelope snafu”. This is a shame because Moonlight should be remembered for its excellence. This drama, directed by Barry Jenkins, shows us Chiron at three pivotal stages of his life, as he discovers his sexuality. During these segments, we see Chiron struggle with fraught relationships between his best friend and crack-addicted mother. He learns how to feel hope from nurturing father-figure Juan (Mahershala Ali, who won the Oscar for his flawless performance).
Moonlight is the first Best Picture winner featuring a gay protagonist and an entirely black cast. Its win was a resounding cry that all stories need to be told. In addition to its achievements in diversity, Moonlight is a nuanced, exquisite movie that shines above all the rest.
