‘Barbarian Invasions’ Wins Foreign Film Oscar
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – “The Barbarian Invasions” won the Oscar for best foreign language film on Sunday, the first Canadian film ever to win the coveted award.
And for both Canada and director Denys Arcand, the third time was a charm. Past nominations included “The Decline of the American Empire” in 1986 and “Jesus of Montreal” in 1989. Arcand directed both those films as well.
“The Barbarian Invasions” centers on a dying womanizer spending his last days surrounded by family, friends and former mistresses.
The lone contemporary-set film among the nominees, it was widely considered the frontrunner for the Oscar and was also nominated for its screenplay.
There was a measure of controversy about its use of footage from the 9-11 World Trade Center attacks, which some criticized as exploitative, but it was not sufficient to keep the Canadian production from winning the Oscar.
“Barbarian” was a sort of sequel to “The Decline of the American Empire” for which Arcand reassembled that film’s cast.
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