Oscars 2012: "The Artist" wins Best Picture; Dujardin, Streep win Best Acting

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The 84th Academy Awards just rounded up, with the silent black-and-white movie "The Artist" winning Best Picture. This was the last award of the night, finishing off with the lovely 1920s silent movie walking away with 5 Oscars, including Best Director, Best Actor, Best Costume Design and Best Original Music Score [1]. Director Michel Hazanavicius was a sure winner for his Best Directing award, swooping away as many accolades during the entire awards season.

However,  after a night full of glamour, laughter and, I must say, full of surprises, the biggest shocker came when Meryl Streep, who was nominated under the Best Actress category for her portrayal of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady", won her 3rd Oscar, beating out favorite and "sure" winner Viola Davis (The Help) for the award [2]. This is the second time in a row for the academy to award a perfomance based on a British personality, with Colin Firth being awarded for his portryal of King George VI in "The King's Speech" last year.

French actor Jean Dujardin won Best Actor, thanks to his role in "The Artist", where he played a silent film star who is struggling to find his status after talkies move in during the late 1920s film industry. A jubilant Dujardin even cried out a few words in French to expresses is gratitude, as well as exclaiming, "I love your country" in front of the audience [3].

Best Supporting Actor went to Christopher Plummer for his role in the film "Beginners". At 82 years old, he is the oldest person to win an Academy Award [4]. Octavia Spencer won Best Supporting Actress for the movie "The Help", even beating castmate Jessica Chastain for the prize.

Martin Scorsese's film "Hugo" was perhaps a major threat for "The Artist", winning 5 awards during the night, even tying with the Best Picture awardee. The 3D film walked away with Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Sounding Edit, Best Sound Mixing and Best visual effects [1] Best Foreign Film went to Iran's "A Separation." and Best Documentary was awarded to  "Undefeated".

On a personal note, I was happy with the results. Although I was pretty much upset that the academy shunned Micheal Fassbender for his role in "Shame"[5], and I was betting Viola Davis was going to win, this year's ceremony was pretty upbeat, a tad "honest"[6], and didnt seem to try to hard to impress the crowd.

Congratulations to all of tonight's winners.

For a complete list, click here.