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'Paradise' Denied
Munich and Paradise Now
are shut out at Oscars,
which feature Jewish gags.
Tom Tugend
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
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unich and Paradise Now,
two films that caused con-
siderable controversy in the
American Jewish community and
Israel, came up empty-handed at this
year's Academy Awards on March 4.
Non-controversial was the selection
of Rachel Weisz as best supporting
actress in The Constant Gardner, in
which she played a passionate activist
fighting an international pharmaceuti-
cal company. Weisz was born in
London, after her father and mother
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came to England as
Jewish refugees in the
1930s, from Hungary
and Austria respectively.
Weisz is in her third
trimester of pregnancy.
In a backstage inter-
view, she declined a suggestion that she
and her fiancee, director Darren
Aronofsky, name the baby Oscar.
Host Jon Stewart left no doubt about
his ethnic heritage in his opening
monologue. After pointing to Steven
Spielberg sitting in the audience,
Stewart mentioned the director's films
Schindler's List and Munich, and then
cracked, "I speak for all Jews when I say
I can't wait for what happens to us next:'
Munich, Spielberg's take on the
Israeli hunt for the Palestinian killers
of its athletes at the 1972 Olympic
Games, struck out on all of its five
nominations, including best picture
and best director. The film has been •
criticized, particularly in Israel, for
allegedly drawing a moral equivalence
between the terrorists and the pursu-
ing Mossad agents, as well as for his-
torical inaccuracy.
Paradise Now, an entry in the for-
eign-language film category, has
drawn even more heat from a small
but vocal Jewish community segment,
which charged that the film "human-
ized" two suicide bombers on a mis-
sion to blow up a Tel Aviv bus.
On March 2, the Israel Project
organization denounced Paradise Now
at a press conference and presented a
petition to the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences with 36,000
signatures protesting the nomination.
In addition, the film had originally
been listed as coming from
"Palestine though it was made by an
Israeli Arab. At Sunday evening's cere-
mony, its origin was given as the
"Palestinian territories."
Paradise Now, which had been con-
sidered the frontrunner, as well as the
German entry Sophie
Scholl, about an anti-
Hitler resistance fighter,
lost out to the South
African entry Tsotsi.
Violinist Itzhak
Penman made a surprise
appearance, performing
music from five movies
nominated for their orig-
inal scores. Pitting
Perlman against the
Three 6 Mafia rap group,
which won for best original song,
Stewart suggested that they engage in
a "dreydel-off."
Stewart, apparently trying to beat
previous Oscar host Billy Crystal in
the Jewish gag category, also took note
of presenter Ben Stiller, who appeared
onstage in a green unitard that cov-
ered his body from head to toe. "It's
nice to have proof he's really Jewish,"
Stewart cracked.
In the documentary short subject
category, the Oscar went to A Note of
Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman
Corwin, celebrating the 95-year old
Jewish writer noted for his inspiring
radio dramas. Li