The Door Has Been Opened

Rick Lyman
New York Times

LOS ANGELES, March 24 – “A Beautiful Mind” won the Oscar for best picture of 2001 in ceremonies tonight in Hollywood that also included the first Oscar for a black actor in a lead role in almost four decades and the first for a black actress in a lead role in Academy Award history.

“A Beautiful Mind,” a romantic drama about a Princeton University mathematician who overcame schizophrenia and won a Nobel Prize also took awards for Ron Howard’s direction, Jennifer Connelly’s supporting performance and Akiva Goldsman’s script. Although beset in recent weeks by charges about liberties taken in telling the story of the Nobel laureate John Forbes Nash Jr., “A Beautiful Mind” nevertheless managed to dominate the 74th annual awards ceremonies. Mr. Nash was in the audience.

It was also a momentous night for black actors in Hollywood, with wins for Denzel Washington and Halle Berry, an honorary Oscar to Sidney Poitier, the black actor who last won the lead Oscar for “Lilies of the Field” (1963) and a black M.C., Whoopi Goldberg.

Mr. Washington, who won for his portrayal of a corrupt police officer in “Training Day,” had previously won a supporting Oscar for “Glory” (1989). “I think it’s more exciting or surreal the first time,” Mr. Washington said backstage. “I was just with Halle, and she’s just gone. She doesn’t know where she is.”

“Forty years I’ve been chasing Sidney and what do they do?” Mr. Washington said. “They give it to him again on the same night. I’ll always be chasing you Sidney. I’ll always be following in your footsteps. There’s nothing I’d rather do.”

In the evening’s most emotional moment, a stunned Halle Berry walked shaking to the microphone to accept her Oscar for best lead actress in “Monster’s Ball,” in which she played the wife of a black convict who forges a relationship with a white prison guard. Ms. Berry struggled through tears to thank the black actresses who came before her and those who are working today.

“The door has been opened,” she said, holding the Oscar aloft.

  The best picture is a story about a schizophrenic. The best actor and actress are black. Maybe we are starting to grow up.

As a physician, I have a deep training in biology. It has amazed me that we humans seem to relate to our dogs and cats in a much more accepting way than we do to each other.

We are not, in any real since, bothered by the color, shape, or size of our animals. We would all think that making a big deal about a pet’s genetics before loving it was silly.

Looked at it from this perspective, the biological differences between humans, whether they are called whites, browns, blacks, yellows, or reds, are obviously minor and inconsequential. I agree with James Landrith. It’s time to grow up.