my top ten best films (1 of 2)

A lot of my favorite films include Oscar Best Picture winners. Although that wasn't necessarily my criteria in putting them in my favorites list. It also includes films that are, at least to me, remarkable and unforgettable. These are the films that I wouldn’t mind buying the expensive original dvd so I can watch them over and over, and later on store them in my archives.

Unfortunately, I haven’t watched the classics yet like Casablanca, Gone with the Wind and other earlier movie greats. Maybe if I see them this list will change. But as of now, here’s how it stands, in no particular order.

The Silence of the Lambs. This dark, psychological suspense thriller of a 1991 masterpiece by Jonathan Demme has, so far, the only movie that made me feel disturbed after watching it. For days, I was gloomy, inexplicably depressed and feeling creepy. And I can only blame it on the intensely effective acting of Sir Anthony Hopkins whose portrayal of Hannibal Lecter is a lot more frightening than Jason and Freddie Kruger combined. He rightfully deserves his Oscar Best Actor trophy that year. And so does the film in winning the Best Picture award.

The Piano. Jane Campion did a wonderful job in this masterpiece of a 19th century love triangle starring Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel and Sam Neil. It was not your usual love triangle, just looking at the setting which is the dark and muddy frontier of New Zealand. I adored the cute and very effective Anna Paquin who was just 12 years old here. It lost to Schindler’s List as Oscar’s Best Picture in 1993. But it still ranks as one of my best ten.

Schindler’s List. I must admit I went to see this film out of curiosity from the brouhaha generated by our censors who wanted to cut the very controversial pumping scene by Liam Neeson. But I left the movie theater getting a lot more. For me, it was one of the two finest works by the genius Steven Spielberg (the other one is also in my tope ten fave). In this black and white medium, Spielberg vividly painted the gruesome picture of the genocide of the Jews during the Holocaust.

Gladiator. This 2000 Ridley Scott film successfully captured the barbarism of the gladiators, the struggles within the royalty of the Roman Empire, the tragic love story of Maximus and his wife and the humanity of all the characters in this epic movie. This is one very effective film that made me feel like I was right there, in the 180AD Rome, watching with my very own eyes the many glorious scenes in this movie. Few movies can make me cry. But this one made me teary eyed in at least two scenes – the death of Maximus’ wife and the finale where Maximus triumphed over the treacherous Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Russell Crowe deserved his Oscar Best Actor trophy. And I think Joaquin Phoenix should have won his Best Supporting Actor award too.

The Color Purple. Long before I adored Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost, she has already made me cry in this 1985 film of the great Steven Spielberg. I never get to read the Pulitzer winning novel by Alice Walker where this film was lifted. But however great that novel is, I’m sure the film version didn’t fail in any account. It was a powerful story of self-discovery that I haven’t forgotten until today. And I think Steven not winning the Oscar Best Director, much more this film not winning the top prize that year, was one of the greatest blunder Oscars has ever committed.