'CODA. The sounds of silence', the mediocre Oscar favorite against the gay cowboys of 'The power of the dog'

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• CODA Review: The Sounds of Silence: Crying Is Not Enough

How can a film with an obvious inclusive, well-intentioned, clear, even beautiful and, it must be said, extremely cheesy vocation (that is, a bad film) become

In times of

, rather than cultural wars, anything can happen.

Even the most incredible.

And this that appears in the question at the beginning is about to happen.

It all started in an interview given by

to the WTF podcast.

There, it is not clear whether he was sober or simply drunk on his own testosterone, the interpreter who began his career in a distant 1969 alongside Paul Newman and Robert Redford in

was dispatched at ease against

, the Jane Campion tape.

She said it was "a piece of shit".

So, to open mouth.

And she continued:

What the hell does this woman know about the American West? Why did she shoot it in New Zealand and call it Montana? ".

Immediately afterwards, or shortly before, she lamented the "many allusions to homosexuality in the film".

And here, the key.

Until then, until

the film awarded at Cannes and produced by Netflix (another point against many) ran alone towards the goal of the

.

What if the critics award, what if the screenwriters, what if the Bafta... But lo and behold, the actor did nothing more than open the spigot.

From then on, who knows if in an almost '

' reflex action of those who thought like him or of those who, thinking differently, do not want to be involved in trouble, the fact is that the tables turned and, against all odds,

by

It became the alternative and favorite replacement, winning both the award given by the actors and the one given by the producers.

Objective achieved.

How is it possible that the worst of the 10 candidate films, which is not even eligible for the Oscar for best direction and is also a '

' of a French production, is right now the one with the most options to become the film of the year according to the Hollywood academics?

What is about to happen (if it happens. Hopefully not) could be considered the most sinister tipping point or example of the times we live in.

Suddenly, the extemporaneous comment of an "IMB-É-CIL" (the spelling is Campion's) has turned a sympathetic, well-intentioned, even progressive, and cloyingly obvious film (that and nothing else is '

') into a reactionary proclamation.

who are so afraid that the cultural war will stain their gala suit.

The damage, as it is easy to deduce, can be double.

Or triple even.

It is already painful that an opinion as sad as that of Elliott and those who think like him (or that of Elliott and those who don't think like him, but they don't dare let it be known either) ends up having any repercussions.

Or that the repercussion is not to strengthen one of the best films of the year in its obvious position but just the opposite.

It is also rare that an irrelevant tape is raised to the skies as happened to

' against '

' some time ago.

But the worst thing, without a doubt, is that it is not because of an arguable artistic criterion but because of pure obscenity.

He loses

but, if you look carefully, he also loses '

'.

And the Academy.

Emilia Jones and Marlee Matlin in 'CODA'.

Does '

' deserve such an insult?

Probably not.

'

', Sian Heder's film which, due to the flukes of modern and sticky cinematography, was first a phenomenon at the Sundance Festival and a little later is where it is, belongs to that genre of films that

wishes and even anticipates in each plane.

It's the definition of easy film.

In fact, it is difficult to understand his disproportionate success in forums such as festivals and prestigious awards if it is not for the armor of good feelings behind which he hides his more than evident lack of ideas.

Let's say that it belongs to the genre of productions whose sole, or most obvious, purpose is to make the audience feel good.

And that's not bad (ibuprofen does it too) except that apparently, only apparently, the purpose seems to be just the opposite: to denounce, and do so in a bitter way, the entire society and the injustice due to it.

Otherwise, 'CODA' cheats.

To situate ourselves, the story of a young woman is told, the only listener in a deaf family.

If it sounds like something to you, there is a reason.

In effect, the film is a 'remake' of the French dramatic comedy

which Eric Lartigau filmed gracefully and with less pretensions in 2014. It turns out that the protagonist, and against all supposed genetic logic, not only hears, but who also sings in tune.

Much even.

She sings a lot and '

' in tune.

The novelty with respect to the French production is that Sian Heder takes it to its land of deep North America, the one where social protection systems do not exist.

Remember that the director is also responsible for the television production

which, in essence, is a tour of the less obvious side of immigration in the United States.

Otherwise, he knows what he is talking about and knows firsthand

During a good part of the film, the most interesting, what is seen is the geography of a territory as desolate as it is true.

And in the veracity of lack of protection or simple poverty, '

' manages to offer

many of the smudges and crooked lines of the society it portrays.

The problem is that tendency of certain vocationally independent cinema (more 'indie' than just independent) to quickly buy the expired and fraudulent merchandise of the enemy.

As soon as the viewer gets confused, we already have our heroine slaloming through the most hackneyed topics of

or '

or

I imagine that it is harder (and also more interesting, beware) to go to the cinema to attend the story of a certain and evident collective failure, than to enjoy a fairy tale with a selfless young woman, a united family no matter what happens, an exemplary teacher willing to sacrifice at all times and a completely bankrupt society that, by God, has scholarships for the smart poor.

To the poor fools, that yes, that give them.

But beyond the ideological anacolutos, what hurts the most is the protocol resource, almost algorithmic, to the most mediocre mechanisms of tabletop melodrama.

I like the realistic capacity, very close to the documentary, to approach the pain, the unfair, with the camera;

dislike, instead

And now, you give it the Oscar for best film of the year ahead of

and, for insisting on what should not stop insisting,

, four masterpieces among the nominees.

We go bad.

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