Mel Gibson Gets Oscar Nominations for Best Director and Best Picture

Congrats to Mel Gibson for his Best Picture and Best Director #Oscars Nominations for @HacksawRidge . #Deserved!! pic.twitter.com/tr1FujzgQG

— Raymond Arroyo (@RaymondArroyo) January 24, 2017

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First Trump gets elected president and now Mel Gibson gets nominated for major Oscars. In the words of the great Clark Griswold, “Surprised? If I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet, I wouldn’t be any more surprised than I am right now.” Mel fathers his ninth child this week at the age of 61? Yawn. Mel gets love from the Academy? That’s a miracle.

If anything, Gibson’s comeback is a bigger stunner than Trump’s victory. As much as America likes Obama, it’s still a right-center country on the whole. Hollywood is to the left of Karl Marx and proud of it. As a matter of fact, it’s practically a job requirement. Not to mention the unconfirmed reports that there might be a few Jewish people in positions of power in the film industry. So for Hollywood’s drunken, raving, anti-Semitic Prince of Darkness to even get to direct a movie again was stunning enough. Getting recognized by the Academy on his first film back is the upset of the millennium so far. I mean, the Beautiful People in the movie business like to think of themselves as intolerant of intolerance. You can flee the country because you’re wanted for raping a 13-year-old girl like Roman Polanski and they’ll want you back. You can marry your step daughter like Woody Allen and actors will beg to be in your pretentious, obscure art-house films. But they’re not predisposed to forgiving somebody who says the Jews started all wars and screams crazy, abusive threats at his ex.

So let’s give credit where it’s due. Way too often the Academy Awards are anything but a meritocracy. Typically nominations and awards are given out based on who you are, not the work you did. For example, “The Revenant” wasn’t one of DiCaprio’s five best performances, but he won because they all felt he was due. Gibson got these because he’s a great director. “Braveheart” is an all time “Desert Island” movie. “Passion of the Christ,” despite the fact it’s also not exactly kind to the Chosen People, is a great film. And “Apocalypto” is criminally under-appreciated and one of the most remarkable pieces of filmmaking you’ll ever see.

Full confession, I haven’t seen “Hacksaw Ridge.” I intend to. War movies are my favorite genre. But my kid who’s in the Marines saw in and said flat out it’s the most grisly, realistic depiction of war ever to appear in a movie. Which is hitting me a little too close to home. But still, I’ll take it over literally any of the other nominated films. So kudos to the Academy for risking setting off triggers around the nation for recognizing the work of a great – if totally off his rocker – artist.