5 Reasons Why Get Out Should Win Best Picture

Every movie fan’s favourite annual hate watch is upon us. The 90th edition of the Academy Awards will be broadcast this Sunday and I for one can’t wait to be enraged when the movie I don’t want to win a thing wins a thing.

The Best Picture race is by far comprised of the most public interest, and it’s practically neck and neck between The Shape of Water and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. There is a dark horse in the mix, however, a sleeper hit horror movie that had such an impact on the cinematic landscape that it became the first movie to be released before the previous year’s Oscars to score a Best Picture nod since Erin Brockovich in 2001. I’m of course talking about Jordan Peele’s incredible social horror movie, Get Out. Not only should it be considered among the best films of the year, but it should go on to win the biggest prize in movies. Here are five reasons why.

1. It’s going to be remembered

Do you ever have that moment when you remember a random movie from a few years ago and think, “Oh yeah, that was nominated for Best Picture”? It happens to all of us, and it’s down to the fact that the larger field of nominees in the category means some questionable stuff gets in there. Ten years from now, Darkest Hour and The Post will just be additions to the bloated canon of historical dramas, and will probably get mixed up with a bunch of other films about similar subject matters in people’s heads.

Get Out will not suffer from this. We’re looking at a micro budget horror movie that made over a quarter of a billion dollars in box office revenue and managed to get nominated in four major Oscar categories, a rarity for a genre piece and even more so for a horror film. I guarantee you that when we’re all older and even more bitter about the Academy Awards, a Get Out win would be something looked back upon as a fond reminder that sometimes, the Oscars get it right.

2. It has more to say

The inevitable political point, but discussing a film that is essentially a monster in the house take on slavery without bringing up politics would undermine the intention of the film. There are some truly great nominees this year, but none with a clearer commentary on society than Get Out. This is a movie that sets itself the task of not only attacking racism, but of attacking smug liberal racism.

How often does that happen? Right-wing racism is an easy target and is ground that has been covered for years, it’s both refreshing and uncomfortable for white left-wingers such as myself to have the mirror thrown up at us. To see a film where the antagonists don’t think of black people as inferior, but as superior vessels that serve the purpose of being inhabited by white people carries a message that is a tough pill for many to swallow: just because you’re proudly on the left side of the political spectrum, it doesn’t mean you’re incapable of prejudice.

3. It represents a new generation

Gary Oldman is going to win Best Actor this weekend, which is a sentence that should fill me with joy. Unfortunately, it’s nothing more than a career award for one of his least impressive, most by the numbers performances. That right there is reflective of the ethos of the Academy Awards – younger talent will be nominated, but the old guard get top priority.

Jordan Peele is a sketch comedian whose first film he wrote was about a stoner who has a cat that is stolen by drug dealers. Keanu is actually a sorely underappreciated comedy, but it doesn’t scream “three-time Academy Award nominee Jordan Peele”. Well, that’s what Peele is now: he’s only the fourth filmmaker in history to be nominated for three Oscars for his directorial debut (after Orson Welles, Warren Beatty and James L. Brooks). His accomplishment has firmly established him as a force to be reckoned with in the new generation of filmmakers, honouring his groundbreaking debut with the coveted gold statuette would make a major statement that the future is now.

4. It’s a time capsule of contemporary America

The horror genre has historically been pretty damn solid when it comes to capturing cultural attitudes. Nearly every slasher flick of the 80s was essentially an HIV awareness ad, whereby any teenager who dared to have sex would be brutally disposed of by a crazed serial killer. Like it or not, the outright racism of the world is going to define this era. We’ve got the Alt-right movement on one side, reactionary liberal politics on the other, and indecisive centrists sitting in the middle who refuse to admit that the world is crumbling around them.

It’s a pretty shit deal, “I’m not racist, but…” might as well replace “Oh yes we can” with the way things are going. It’s nice to know then, that the most profitable and acclaimed movie of last year dared to distil the hell of modern race politics and treat racism in the exact way it should be treated: as a real-life horror movie. I’ll take that over a technically beautiful film that ignores so much of what is going on.

5. It’s the best film of the year

Let’s get down to brass tacks, Best Picture is redundant. In fact, awards for art in general are. You can’t measure a subjective practice with prizes, not really. However, we do, so picking a “best film” is something that happens every year. We can talk about politics and importance until we’re blue in the face, there will always be those die-hard Oscar followers who harp on about the Best Picture award being reserved for the film that is truly the best.

It’s a pointless hill to die on, but that’s their prerogative. In which case, I say Get Out should win Best Picture simply because it’s better than all the other nominees. What can anybody say about that other than pick another film and claim that’s the best? The answer is nothing. There is no real “best film”, such a title doesn’t exist, but in that stubborn human way, we insist on trying to find one. And for that reason, I’ve found my one in Get Out. If you feel the same way then that’s fantastic, if you don’t, then who am I to argue? All I’m saying is, “5 Reasons Why Darkest Hour Should Win Best Picture” isn’t going to be welcomed with open arms by most.