Why ‘reparations’ is the theme of the 2024 Oscars

(Credits: The Academy Awards) Fri 23 February 2024 22:45, UK Handing out trophies for artistic endeavours is arguably a futile act, for how can subjective filmmaking be fairly judged? This is only underlined when the Academy Awards so often misjudges its nominees, politically picking a smattering of popular films, but perhaps the most interesting insight the Oscars gleans is in its ability to summarise the contemporary zeitgeist into one overriding theme or feeling that can be found distilled in each of its ‘Best Picture’ nominees. In what feels like a modern first, the Oscars seem to have done a pretty accurate job reflecting the contemporary world of political, environmental and moral turmoil, choosing films that largely address most of these issues. Indeed, if one word and one theme could neatly tie all of these films together, it would be ‘reparations’, with each release trying to untangle the complications of the past to make sense of the present. Celine Song’s Past Lives most snugly fits this mould, telling the story of two former lovers who allow the flow of time to separate their souls, only to try and reconnect them again decades down the line. Although there’s no direct effort to...