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          ‘Braveheart’ won the Best Picture title at the 68th Academy Awards. The film, directed, produced, and starred by Mel Gibson, was written by Randall Wallace.

          The story was inspired by Blind Harry’s epic poem ‘The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace’. ‘Braveheart’ tells the extremely fictionalized story of the legendary Scottish rebel William Wallace, and his rebellion against King Edward Longshanks of England, in which he battled for the freedom of Scotland.

        ‘Braveheart’ was nominated for ten Academy Awards at the 68th Academy Awards, and won five: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Makeup, and Best Sound Editing. The major battle scenes were shot in Ireland, using members of the Irish Army Reserve as extras. Critics especially praised the massively scaled and extravagantly violent battle scenes.

       The music score was composed and conducted by James Horner. The score has gone on to be one of the most commercially successful soundtracks of all time.

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          ‘Forrest Gump’, is a 1994 film starring Torn Hanks, and directed by Robert Zemeckis. It is based on the best-selling 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom. The film differs substantially from the novel, including the lead character’s personality, and several events that were depicted.

          The story depicts several decades in the life of its lead character Forrest Gump (Hanks), a simple-minded and athletically prodigious man from Alabama. The story begins with Gump telling his life story to other people while waiting at a bus stop. As the story continues, you find Forrest touching important events and people from the 1950s to the 1980s (ranging from Elvis Presley to several Presidents of the US), rising to his own measure of fame and fortune in the process, mostly by just being himself.

        The movie had thirteen nominations at the Academy Awards and won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Visual Effects, and Best Film Editing. Winston Groom published a sequel to the original novel, ‘Gump & Co.,’ in 1995.

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         ‘Schindler’s List’ is a 1993 historical film. The movie was directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by Spielberg, Gerald R. Molen, and Branko Lustig, and written by Steven Zaillian.

          The film features music composed by John Williams, and it was shot almost entirely in black and white.

          The movie is based on the novel ‘Schindler’s Ark’, by Australian novelist Thomas Keneally. The film relates to a period in the life of Oskar Schindler, a German businessman.

          The movie is set during World War II, and is about the horrors of the holocaust in which millions of Jews were murdered. It relates how Schindler rescues over 1100 Jews from the Nazi concentration camps of World War II.

          At the beginning of the film, Schindler just wants money. By the end, he has turned his heart to saving all the Jews that he has employed. The film finishes on a powerful note.

               The movie won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Editing, and Best Art Direction.

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          ‘Unforgiven’ is a film produced, directed, and starred by Clint Eastwood and written by David Webb Peoples. Eastwood plays a weakened, once violent, but reformed gunfighter - and an aging pig farmer. The story is in fact, a violent tale of retribution in the lead character’s life. The film also stars Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman and Richard Harris.

          The film won four Academy Awards (and was nominated for five others), garnering Best Picture and Best Director for Clint Eastwood, Best Supporting Actor for Gene Hackman and Best Film Editing for Joel Cox.

         A Japanese remake starring Ken Watanabe was released in September of 2013.

        ‘Unforgiven’, was added to the United States National Film Registry of the Library of Congress as being deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

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          ‘The Silence of the Lambs' won in the Best Picture category at the 64th Academy Awards. This horror-thriller film was directed by Jonathan Demme. The movie starred Jodie Foster as Clarice and Anthony Hopkins in a career-defining performance as Lecter. The film became the third, and to this day, the last film ever to win all five major Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

          The screenplay was written by Ted Tally, based on Thomas Harris’s 1988 best-selling novel of the same name. ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ was one of the most successful and widely popular films of the modern era, blending the merits of detective thriller and art film.

         It was released on 30th January 1991, and grossed 272.7 million US dollars world-wide. It is also the only Best Picture winner considered to be a horror film till date, and the third such film to be nominated in the category, after ‘The Exorcist’, and ‘Jaws’.

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          ‘Dances with Wolves’, is a 1990 epic film. The movie starred Kevin Costner, who was widely appreciated for his performance.

          ‘Dances With Wolves’ was honoured with twelve nominations, and seven Oscar wins - Best Picture (Costner), Best Director (for Costner’s directorial debut film), Best Adapted Screenplay (Michael Blake), Best Cinematography (Dean Semler), Best Sound, Best Original Score (John Barry), and Best Film Editing. It also received the Golden Globe Award for best drama.

         The movie was adapted from the 1988 book of the same name by Michael Blake. It was the saga of a Civil War Union officer, Lt. John J. Dunbar, who travels to the American frontier to find a military post.

          Much of the dialogue is spoken in Lakota with English subtitles. ‘Dances With Wolves’ won a number of additional awards, making it one of the most honoured films of 1990.

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          ‘Driving Miss Daisy’ is a 1989 American film directed by Bruce Beresford and written by Alfred Uhry, based on Uhry’s play of the same name. The film stars Jessica Tandy, Morgan Freeman, and Dan Aykroyd.

          The movie shows 25 years in the life of an elderly Jewish widow named Daisy Werthan, and her chauffeur, Hoke Colburn. He’s hired by her son, Boolie, when she can no longer drive herself. At first, Miss Daisy objects to the changes in her life. But eventually, the two transcend their differences to become lifelong friends.

          At the 62nd Academy Awards, ‘Driving Miss Daisy’ received nine nominations, and won the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Actress (Jessica Tandy), Best Makeup, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

         At the age of 81, Jessica Tandy became the oldest actress to win an Academy Award. The movie was well received by critics, with particular emphasis on Morgan Freeman’s and Jessica Tandy’s performances.

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           ‘Rain Man’ is a road comedy-drama film directed by Barry Levinson and written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass. This Oscar-winning film stars Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise. The main character is loosely based around real-life autistic savant Kim Peek.

          The movie tells the story of Charlie Babbitt (Cruise), a self-centred, spoilt brat. On the death of his father, Charlie doesn’t receive the huge inheritance he was expecting. This offends Charlie, who is used to a luxurious life-style. Moreover, Charlie finds that the money is being sent to a mental institution in Cincinnati. It’s only when he visits the hospital that Charlie finds the truth: the money is going to his previously unknown brother Raymond, who has severe autism. The story takes a turn from there.

          The film won four Oscars at the 61st Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Actor in a Leading Role for Hoffman.

          Its crew received an additional four nominations. Apart from all this, Hoffman’s performance as an autistic man is immensely lauded even after years.

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               ‘The Last Emperor’, directed by Bernordo Bertolucci, was the biopic of Pu Yi (the last emperor of China). The screenplay was written by Mark Peploe and Bernardo Bertolucci. The movie, based on Pu Yi’s autobiography, tells how he ascended to the throne at the age of three. In his brief reign, he was confined to the Forbidden City, not knowing of the world of his people. He was forced to renounce his throne at the age of nine. Pu Yi leads the rest of his life in desolation and impoverishment. After serving as the ruler of a Japanese puppet government of China during World War II, he becomes a political prisoner of the Soviets and then of the Communist Chinese.

               This was the first Western feature film authorized by the People’s Republic of China to film in the Forbidden City in Beijing. At the 60th Academy Awards, the film won all nine Oscars for which it was nominated, including Best Picture and Best Director.

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                ‘Platoon’ is a magnificent war film written and directed by Oliver Stone, based on his experiences as an American soldier in the Vietnam War. It was released in 1986, and won the Academy Award for Best Picture. It also won Best Director for Oliver Stone, as well as Best Sound Mixing and Best Film Editing. This is also Oliver Stone’s first film about the war, followed by ‘Born on the Fourth of July’ and ‘Heaven & Earth’. These three films are often said to form a trilogy.

                The film, which follows a new recruit named Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) being at war in the deadly jungles, takes a frank look at the toll the war took on the men that fought, lived, and died in the jungle. The main conflict is the murder of innocent civilians causing a rift in the platoon while Chris tries to find the correct thing to do in a war with ambiguous morals.

                The movie is considered one of the most realistic war movies ever made, as Oliver Stone could successfully bring this film to the screen with an extreme amount of power. He could explore the war on many levels.

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               ‘Out of Africa’ was the movie that won in the Best Picture category at the 58th Academy Awards. The film was directed and produced by Sydney Pollack, and starred Robert Redford and Meryl Streep. The movie was based on the auto-biographical novel by Isak Dinesen, the pen name of Danish writer Karen Blixen. It tells of Blixen’s time in the Kenyan highlands in the years before, during, and after World War I.

               The book was adapted into a screenplay by the writer Kurt Luedtke. Streep played Karen Blixen; Redford played Denys Finch Hatton; and Klaus Maria Brandauer played Baron Bror Blixen. The movie is taken from the perspective of Karen Blixen.

               The movie was shot in many of the real places mentioned in the book, like the Ngong hills, and Nairobi. It received eleven Academy Award nominations, and won seven of them including- Best Picture and Best Director. The music for ‘Out of Africa’ was composed by John Barry, who won an Oscar for his work.

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               ‘Amadeus’ is a 1984 American period drama film directed by Milos Forman, and adapted by with eight Oscars, including Best Actor (F. Murray Abraham), Best Director, and Best Peter Shaffer from his stage play of the same name. The film dominated the Academy Awards Adapted Screenplay. It also won four BAFTA Awards, four Golden Globes, and a Directors Guild of America (DGA) award. The American Film Institute ranked ‘Amadeus’ 53rd on its ‘100 Years, 100 Movies list’.

               The story, set in Vienna, Austria, during the latter half of the 18th century, is a fictionalized biography of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The story is told from the point of view of Antonio Salieri, the court composer for Emperor Joseph II. A devout and serious man, Salieri’s faith is shaken when he meets Mozart. Though Mozart is shown as a quite immature-easy-going kind of young man, his musical talents win the affections of the court while simultaneously moving and infuriating Salieri.

 

               ‘Terms of Endearment’ is a remarkable movie. The movie is based on the 1975 novel by Larry McMurtry. It is a feel-good kind of drama film directed by James L. Brooks. The movie had an all star cast, headed by Jack Nicholson and Shirley MacLaine in their Oscar-winning roles. The film went on to get eleven nominations at the Academy Awards, and won five, including Best Picture. In addition, it won four Golden Globes.

               The movie tells the story of a mother-Aurora Greenway MacLaine) and her daughter Emma (Debra Winger), who have grown apart over the years. Aurora has found herself with a string of suitors, most notably retired astronaut Garrett Breedlove (Nicholson), while Emma too has a busy and tense married life. The plot takes a turn when Emma is diagnosed with cancer.

               McMurtry published a sequel to the original novel, ‘The Evening Star’, in 1992. This was itself adapted into a film four years later, with MacLaine and Nicholson reprising their roles.

 

               Gandhi,' is a 1982 epic movie directed by Richard Attenborough. It is the biopic of Mohandas Karam Chand Gandhi, aka Mahatma Gandhi. The role was played by Ben Kingsley. Its story concerns Gandhi as he leads the non-violent fight for India’s independence from the British Empire.

               The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Director for Attenborough, Best Actor for Kingsley, and five other Oscars. It holds the record for biggest cast, having around 300,000 people including extras.

               The story starts in 1948, with Gandhi being assassinated. We then see a flashback to Gandhi as a 24-year-old lawyer in South Africa in 1893. Gandhi becomes an activist, agitating for the civil rights of Indians in South Africa.

               After 20 years in South Africa, he returns to India to find himself a hero. He joins the Congress Party campaign for Indian home rule, and eventually becomes its leader, spending thirty years battling the British before finally winning Indian independence.

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               ‘Chariots of Fire’ is a 1981 British movie directed by Hugh Hudson, starring Ben Cross and Ian Charleson. The film was conceived and produced by David Puttnam, and written by Colin Welland. The film is based on real life track and field athletes Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell, both of whom competed for Britain in the 1924 Olympic Games.

               It is also a movie about British class distinctions in the years after World War I. This is showed through the lead characters-Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, who is an English Jew, who runs to overcome prejudice.

               ‘Chariots of Fire’ was very successful at the 54th Academy Awards, winning four of seven nominations: Best Picture, Original Screenplay (Colin Welland), Costume Design (Milena Canonero), and Original Score (Vangelis). It is ranked 19th in the British Film Institute’s list of Top 100 British films. The film is also notable for its memorable electronic theme tune by Vangelis.

               The film’s title was inspired by the line, ‘Bring me my chariot of fire’; from the William Blake poem adapted into the popular British hymn ‘Jerusalem’.

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