I watched the Oscar nominated shorts

Never Done: I watched the Academy Award nominated shorts before the Academy Awards

Every year I wish I had taken the time to watch the nominated short films, and every year I make it to the Oscars telecast and still haven't seen them. This year I vowed to see them (before the Oscars) and actually did it.

Regardless of my overall opinion about the films, I found I was inspired by at least one element of each of them. I want to write about the inspiration. Also, I am getting ready for my Oscars Party, and want to take more time today making sheet candy and teasing my hair, and less time writing, so these are going to be short inspirational moments.

The Confession: My least favorite of the bunch (did I not just say that I wasn't going to write about my overall opinion?) this one reminded me most of a Mussar practice. I liked the process a young boy goes through when trying to prepare for his first confession -- looking at a list of sins, and basically worrying that he hasn't committed enough of them. Underneath the dark, unrealistic plot, this is about a boy summing up his ethical life.

Wish 143: Among other things, this film gave me my first experience of tearing up while wearing glasses. The most inspirational part was actually the directorial restraint. It could have been very campy, and it could have been quite dark, but it struck a balance and was actually quite tender. The moment when the call girl shows her scar was probably the turning point for me.

Na Wewe: An extremely high-tension film about false divisions among humans. One of the best-crafted pieces I have ever seen about ethnic cleansing. The inspirational moment? I don't think there is just one. I think it's the message of the whole piece: that national and religious and ethnic borders are fabrications that divide us from our fellow humans.

The Crush: The moment when the boy says to his teacher, "I would have missed the football and taken you for lunch." And then she realizes (even if she doesn't pay attention yet) that a seven-year-old just taught her that she is making a huge mistake.

God of Love: This is a film about a guy deciding to use his natural gift to bring others together, and to stop trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. There's a moment when he sees what would work -- what would actually work. It's well before the moment he takes action, but we know he noticed, and we know it's right. And so when he does, when he accepts that he's just trying too hard to make something work that just won't, and when he uses his gift to make something else work that just will, it's one of those cinematic moments that makes me scan my entire life for those moments.

Is this the vaguest post I've ever written? Possibly, and apologies if it is. I'll try to absolve myself by making an Oscars prediction. I think it's a toss-up between The Confession and Na Wewe, and I'll go out on a limb and say the Academy will vote for Na Wewe, although I wish Wish 143 would win.