One of the most memorable scenes from the hilarious Ricky Gervais/ Stephen Merchant television series Extras produced by HBO/BBC is the episode in which Kate Winslet, playing a nun taking a break from shooting a Holocaust film, is giving advice on how to score an Oscar. "If you do a film about the Holocaust, you're guaranteed an Oscar," advises Winslet, playing herself in the mockumentary about extras in Hollywood. Winslet's episode was first aired in August 2005. Of course, the real kicker to this fictional scenario is that just three years later Winslet went on to star in the wonderful 2008 Holocaust film The Reader and won an Oscar for her role for "best actress" at the Academy Awards earlier this year. 

But the real reason why so many films about the indelible scar on the human experience that is the Holocaust go on to justifiably win Academy Awards is that these typically somber heartfelt films tend to be made, by both directors and actors alike, with such a level of pure passion and sincerity that it comes across in the finished product and ultimately makes for really powerful pieces of art. Examples of films that deal in some way with the Holocaust include Anne Frank - The Whole Story (2001), The Devil's Arithmetic (1999), Conspiracy (2001), Sophie Scholl - The Final Days (2005), Life Is Beautiful (1997), Schindler's List (1993), Jakob the Liar (1999), as well as the 1978 TV mini-series Holocaust. All of these films are available on DVD and found at Amoeba Music.

Being an avid Kate Winslet junkie since my first viewing her performance in Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures (a film that forever changed my life and that permanently resides close to the top of my all time favorite films), I must say that it is satisfying to me she that she finally won one of those coveted statuettes that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences bestows upon the proud, the few, the fabulous "chosen ones" every year come February. I mean, let's face it, girlfriend had it coming after, what, six nominations?!? Of course she doesn't need a little, golden naked-man mascot to prove to the world that she's got the goods; however, the best thing, in my opinion, about this Winslet-finally-getting-the-Oscar reality is the fact that she pretty much predicted how it would have to happen for her in an episode of Ricky Gervais' hilarious comedy show Extras. Check it:


Because I feel the need to leak my inner geek that loves the Winslet, I'd like to take this opportunity to share a few of my favorite lines (from a few of my favorite movies) Winslet has delivered over the years:

As Juliet Hulme, played opposite the vastly underrated actress Melanie Lynskey, in Heavenly Creatures (1994):
"All the best people have bead chests and bone diseases. It's all frightfully romantic."

I watched Little Children last night. 


It's a strange but thought provoking movie, with just a shred of cheese throughout.  It's directed by Todd Field, the dude that directed In the Bedroom a while back.  Remember how In the Bedroom was every f-ing where that year at the Oscars? I mean I love Sissy Spacek and all that, but I was so over it being everywhere all the time that i never even saw that movie-- too much, too much!  I'm glad I didn't know he directed Little Children until I watched the credits.  I guess I am still not over that oversaturation so many years back...I hold my Oscar grudges a long time, it's true, anyone that knows me can tell you.  But I digress....

In Little Children, as you've probably heard, Kate Winslet plays a suburban housewife who begins having an affair with the hot stay at home dad who takes his son to the same playground where she takes her daughter.  While on one hand I can't really blame her for being unable to resist somone as hot as Patrick Wilson (did anyone else spend half the movie wondering why her "full of rebellion" character would ever have been interested in her neanderthal husband Mike?), I was disgusted by how easy it seemed for her character Sarah to jump into cheating on her husband when there is a child involved in their relationship.  Same goes for Patrick Wilson's character Brad, but it is clear why he was interested in his wife in the first place, as she is played by sexy lady Jennifer Connolly.