Ordinary People is about a family being torn apart by grief and depression after one of their sons die in a boating accident and the other one try to commit suicide. The focus of the movie is Conrad the son. After a failed suicide attempt he moves back home to his parents who just want to be normal. Feeling lost back in the real world he starts going to see a psychologist who helps him deal with the guilt he is feeling after his brother died. When his father Calvin goes to see the psychologist about Conrad he realizes that he is dealing with issues also. The only one that refuses to confront their feelings is the mother Beth. Beth just wants to forget about the whole thing and pretend everything is normal. She refuses to go to therapy and has a hard time to dealing with her son and her husband.
This is a very well acted movie. Everyone gives a heart wrenching performance. Mary Tyler Moore earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for playing Beth. Known for her comedy this was a very different role for her and earned her only Oscar Nomination. Donald Sutherland for some reason didn't get nominated for his role as the father Calvin. His characters transformation from oblivious to understanding is the biggest character arc in the movie. Timothy Hutton gave an amazing performance in his film debut. He earned the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his portrayal as depressed and confused Conrad. Also in a great supporting role was Judd Hirsch as the psychologist. A little unorthodox at first but he manages to help both Conrad and Calvin make breakthroughs and get to a better close. Hirsch was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor. The oddest thing was that the movie was that Timothy Hutton was nominated for Best Supporting Actor and not Best Actor. Meanwhile Mary Tyler Moore was nominated for Best Actress even though she has less screen time then Hutton. This probably has a lot to due with Hutton being an unknown. This was probably better for Hutton who wouldn't have stood a chance of winning best Actor against Robert De Niro in Raging Bull.
Speaking of Raging Bull a dark drama filmed in black and white showcases the rise and fall of Jack La Motta. It is another movie with great acting and was nominated for a total of eight Oscars. Including Best Picture, Best Director for Martin Scorsese, Best Supporting Actor for Joe Pesci, and Best Supporting Actress for Cathy Moriarty. Robert De Niro won the Best Acting award his second Oscar but first for a leading role. Martin Scorsese lost the Best Director to Robert Redford and would also lose in 1990 to another actor turned director Kevin Costner. Raging Bull was the favorite to win that year and is still considered the better movie. Recently Entertainment Weekly named Ordinary People one of the most overrated movies to win Best Picture.
The interesting thing about watching the best picture movies in a row is seeing different trends. This is the second family drama to win in a row. But they have more in common then that. In both movies the mother is portrayed as the bitch and the father is the sensitive one. Not sure what this means but seems to me to be a backlash against the feminist movement of the early 70's. Clearly the message of Kramer vs. Kramer is that the dad can be just as good of a parent as the mother or that the feminist movement has negative effects. With Ordinary People it is not as clear what the point is. The point seems to be that psychologist are an important part of dealing with ones feelings. Because the mother is the only one that refuses to see the psychologist she is the one that ends up feeling alienated and ends up walking out. So, maybe it is just a coincidence that the two movies have the mother walking out. But, I still think that watching these two movies back to back you get a real sense that filmmakers around that time did not like women. Would love to hear other peoples thoughts on this. As I was just 3 years old when Ordinary People came out I have no clue what the culture was at that time. So, anyone else have more insight on it let me know. But I do recommend watching these two movies back to back to see what I am talking about.
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