The Oscars Drop the Ball By Abandoning America’s Soldiers

As a film critic, I was not at all surprised when Javier Bardem exclaimed: “Free Palestine” at the Oscars. I also want Palestinians to live good lives, and I would be interested to see how Bardem hopes that will happen.

I did not expect a single actor to say a word about Israelis who have been killed, or the millions who are in bomb shelters numerous times a day.

While Adrien Brody spoke about antisemitism when he won Best Actor for The Brutalist, I didn’t expect Timothée Chalamet, if he won, to say anything about antisemitism.

I hoped there might be something about a free Iran, or a speech against the brutal regime that killed thousands of its own people and assaulted women and killed gay people. But that would be too much to ask for.

No, I didn’t expect any words about the attacks on synagogues, because the victims were Jews.

Nothing about shutting off the Internet in Iran, because, you know, nobody cares if Jews can’t be blamed.

The one thing I did think was that somebody — anybody — would wish our troops in military conflict well. One need not support the war, or like President Trump, to do so. When American troops are risking their lives, is it so tough to pick one actor to say “We all wish our troops will come home safe at the end of this”?

I admire the talents of many of the actors. But do they think that security comes from a magic genie? Is it controversial to wish that American troops come back safely? Pick any other country on the map, and if they were militarily involved with soldiers dying, would a major entertainment awards ceremony not mention them? I am talking about only democratic countries.

I wonder if some of the actors wanted to say something, but were told not to by their agents, thinking that it might somehow be controversial — though I struggle to see how it’s not controversial to have nobody say anything about troops.

I’ve interviewed both American and Israeli soldiers who’ve been badly injured and lost limbs. Their morale is raised when everyday people show they care about them, let alone famous people.

All those who stood on the stage are great actors. But there is no awards ceremony on TV for soldiers risking their lives daily. There is no “Best Escape of a Missile” or “Best Pilot To Win in a Dogfight.” There should be award ceremonies for that, and I would like to hear their speeches.

That not a single presenter said a word about American troops is a sign of decay that is highly disconcerting and unfortunate. There are role models in all different areas of life, and many look up to actors. On the Red Carpet, people hyper-analyze what gown someone is wearing, who designed it, and who looked better. Some people care about those things. I don’t, but I don’t begrudge anyone caring about it.

I do begrudge that the message to the youth is that we shouldn’t really care much about the men and women that are fighting for our country.

And this seems to be a uniquely American problem.

The author is a writer based in New York.