Oscar Nomination
January 22, 2009
The German film "Baader Meinhof Komplex" is among the five nominees for best foreign language film for the Oscars, the highest award in the film industry.
Other nominees in the category include: "Revanche" from Austria, "The Class" from France, "Departures" from Japan the acclaimed Israeli animated documentary "Waltz with Bashir", about the country's invasion of Lebanon in 1982.
"Baader Meinhof Complex" is based on the true story about Red Army Faction (RAF) founders Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof, whose radical left-wing movement terrorized Germany in the 1970s with its abduction and murder of prominent politicians and business leaders.
"The Reader" nominated in two categories
"The Reader," which is based on a best-selling novel by German author Bernhard Schlink, was also nominated in several categories. The story is about a law student who discovers that an older woman he had an affair with as a teenager years before, is being prosecuted for Nazi war crimes and harbors a terrible secret.
Besides being nominated for Best Picture, the film's director Stephen Daldry was also nominated for Best Director.
Kate Winslet was unexpectedly nominated in the Best Actress category for the role of the SS concentration camp guard in "The Reader," instead of getting the nod for her critically acclaimed performance as a frustrated suburban American housewife in "Revolutionary Road."
Other Best Picture nominees include "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," starring Brad Pitt as a man born old who ages in reverse, which is the Oscar front-runner with 13 nominations, "Slumdog Millionaire,"the exuberant and touching Mumbai-based rags-to-riches story, earning 10 nods, "Milk", which stars Sean Penn as Harvey Milk, the first openly gay politician in the US, and "Frost/Nixon", about a series of revealing talk-show host interviews with former US president Richard Nixon.
Actors of the year
The best actor nominees were Richard Jenkins (The Visitor), Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon), Sean Penn (Milk), Brad Pitt (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler).
The other best lead actress nominees were Anne Hathaway (Rachel GettingMarried), Angelina Jolie (Changeling), Melissa Leo (Frozen River) and Meryl Streep (Doubt).
One year after his tragic death from a drug overdose, Heath Ledger earned a post-humous Oscar nomination for best supporting actor as the Joker in the Batman drama "The Dark Knight".
Other supporting actor nominees included Josh Brolin (Milk), Robert Downey Jr. (Tropic Thunder), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt) and Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road).
The supporting actress nominees were Amy Adams (Doubt), Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), Viola Davis (Doubt), Taraji P. Henson (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler).
The 81st Oscars will be presented on Feb. 22 in Los Angeles.