AND THE WINNER IS…

A quick rundown of some cool products that I’ve recently come across and highly recommend…

• “The Father of Spin: Edward L. Bernays and the Birth of Public Relations,” by Larry Tye (Holt Paperbacks, $17.00) First published in 2002, this book examines the life and often controversial work of Edward L. Bernays, who was arguably the first and most influential publicist of the 20th century — although, as it takes pains to note, Ivy Ledbetter Lee might have a thing or two to say about that.

• “Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination,” by Neal Gabler (Knopf, $40.00) This 880-page tomb, which was first published in 2006, is the latest gem from Gabler, who is among the finest chroniclers of 20th century popular culture in the world — his Winchell is among the best books I’ve ever read, and this one, while less salacious, does a comparably impressive job of helping us to understand a man who few ever really knew or understood during his own lifetime.

• “TCM Classic Movie Crossword Puzzles,” foreword by Robert Osborne (Chronicle Books, $9.95) Film-themed crossword puzzles are a popular feature in Turner Classic Movies’ “Now Playing” viewing guide, which is enjoyed by 160,000 subscribers each month. This new volume brings 80 of the most challenging and entertaining puzzles together for the first time.

• “Married… with Children: The Complete Eleventh Season” (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, $39.95) This new 3-disc DVD set includes all 24 episodes from the final season of the iconic comedy, which aired on Fox from 1987 through 1997 and generated loads of laughs  about the Bundy family (Ed O’Neill, Katey Segal, Christina Applegate, and David Faustino) and their kooky neighbors (Amanda Bearse and Ted McGinley).

Lone Scherfig‘s “An Education” is one of the best movies of the year and one of my personal favorites, too. Oscar nominations won’t be announced for months still, but most pundits have already projected a best picture nod for the film and a best actress nod for its young star, Carey Mulligan. What is less clear, though, is if/how the film’s male stars — the great character actors Peter Sarsgaard and Alfred Molina (neither of whom have ever been nominated before) — will be recognized. That largely depends on how its distributor, Sony Pictures Classics, decides to campaign for them.

At the moment, there appears to be an internal debate about whether to promote Sarsgaard for best actor or best supporting actor. To me, the answer is obvious: go for supporting! Here’s why…

It’s the only category in which he has a chance. Presumably, the studio’s primary goal is to accumulate the most nominations that it possibly can for its film. While separate campaigns in three different categories — best actor, best actress, and best supporting actor — might, at first glance, appear to be the easiest means to that end, the reality is that it’s not. I believe that any effort to get Sarsgaard a best actor nod would be a lost cause (I can already identify 10 bigger names and showier performances that would appeal to voters more), whereas an early positioning of him as a candidate for best supporting actor might well result in nominations for both him and Molina (since, like Entertainment Weekly‘s Dave Karger, I’m struggling to identify enough worthy performances to even fill the category).

It’s important to acknowledge the facts: virtually all recent best actor nominees have been A-list stars (George Clooney in “Michael Clayton,” Sean Penn in “Milk,” Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” etc.), with the occasional exception of an actors’ actor around whom an entire film is built (David Strathairn in “Good Night, and Good Luck”; Tommy Lee Jones in “In the Valley of Elah,” Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor,” etc.). Sarsgaard is neither. Could he really compete for a nomination — much less a win — with the likes of Clooney in “Up in the Air,” Daniel Day-Lewis in “Nine,” Morgan Freeman in “Invictus,” and/or Robert De Niro in “Everybody’s Fine,” to say nothing of Colin Firth in “A Single Man,” Viggo Mortensen in “The Road,” or Clive Owen in “The Boys Are Back,” among others? The answer is no.

I do, however, think that he would stand an excellent chance in the best supporting actor race, and not only because there is such little competition. Sarsgaard’s sizable part straddles the line between a co-lead and a supporting part — it could plausibly be labeled either, so let’s call him a “straddler” — which is precisely the sort that the Academy has increasingly rewarded during the past three decade, in both the male and female supporting categories, over the much smaller character roles that it used to celebrate (think Walter Brennan and Thelma Ritter).

Let’s face it, folks: these days, in the supporting categories, size matters! I like to call it “the tallest midget phenomenon”: one or at most two genuine character actors (like Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road” or Viola Davis in “Doubt”) get nominated; the other slots go to straddlers like Sarsgaard; and one of the latter sort — usually the one with the most screen time — ultimately wins. If you think I’m imaging this, consider the long list of straddlers who have done well in the supporting categories over the past three decades, particularly in the 2000′s…

• Tatum O’Neal in “Paper Moon” (1973) WON
• Robert De Niro in “The Godfather, Part II” (1974) WON
• Timothy Hutton in “Ordinary People” (1980) WON
• Jessica Lange in “Tootsie” (1982) WON
• Samuel L. Jackson in “Pulp Fiction” (1994)
• William H. Macy in “Fargo” (1996)
• Benicio Del Toro in “Traffic” (2000) WON
• Marcia Gay Harden in “Pollock” (2000) WON
• Ethan Hawke in “Training Day” (2001)
• Jennifer Connelly in “A Beautiful Mind” (2001) WON
• Catherine Zeta-Jones in “Chicago” (2002) WON
• Tim Robbins in “Mystic River” (2003) WON
• Thomas Haden Church in “Sideways” (2004)
• George Clooney in “Syriana” (2005) WON
• Jake Gyllenhaal in “Brokeback Mountain” (2005)
• Jennifer Hudson in “Dreamgirls” (2005) WON
• Cate Blanchett in “Notes on a Scandal” (2006)
• Javier Bardem in “No Country for Old Men” (2007) WON
• Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt” (2008)
• Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight” (2008) WON

Concerned that a supporting push for Sarsgaard might push out Molina due to (a) a lack of space in the category and/or (b) the disparity in the sizes of their parts? Don’t be — I’d point you to (a) the lack of competition this year and/or (b) the 64 instances throughout the 81 years of the Oscars in which one film produced two or more nominees in the same category, 31 of which were in the supporting category and several of which featured one performance that was significantly larger than the other(s). Of just those bulleted above: O’Neal beat Madeline Kahn; De Niro beat Michael V. Gazzo and Lee Strasberg; Hutton beat Judd Hirsch; Lange beat Teri Garr; and Zeta-Jones beat Queen Latifah.

Would a supporting campaign for Sarsgaard attract negative attention? I don’t think so. “An Education” is Carey Mulligan’s movie; anyone who has seen it knows that much! The entire cast is very good, but she’s great — she’s in nearly every scene; she physically and emotionally morphs from a naive schoolgirl to a worldly-wise woman; and she makes the audience fall in love with her along the way. (Sarsgaard and Molina graciously acknowledged as much themselves following a screening in Toronto!) Therefore, most people would have no problem accepting the argument that every other performance in the film — including Sarsgaard’s — is supporting hers.

If the studio doesn’t push Sarsgaard for supporting, as is obviously their prerogative, he’ll go the way of Michael Sheen in “The Queen” and “Frost/Nixon” — nowhere. If they do, however, they’ll have the added comfort of knowing that he’s not the only straddler contending in the category this year: Matt Damon (“Invictus”) is the early favorite to win.

Photo: Alfred Molina and Peter Sarsgaard, foreground, in “An Education.” Courtesy: Sony Pictures Classics.

The Republic of South Africa has a special place in my heart. It’s a country that I’ve visited nine times. It’s where my mother was born and spent the first 30 years of her life. It’s where many members of my family live to this day. And it’s where my grandfather, a white attorney, died while defending a black man during the era of Apartheid.

For most people, though, South Africa is merely the source of fleeting images from the past two decades: the release of political prisoner Nelson Mandela, who had spent the preceding 27 years in jail, in 1990; the fall of Apartheid, the system of government-imposed racial segregation that had reigned for 46 years, in 1991; the presentation of the Nobel Peace Prize to Mandela and F.W. de Klerk, his partner in ending Apartheid and the last white South African president, in 1993; the seemingly endless lines of people patiently waiting to participate in the nation’s first free and fair elections, for which 86% of the nation turned out over the course of three days, in 1994; and the subsequent inauguration of Mandela, with political opponents by his side, as the president of a new “rainbow nation.”

A lot has happened in South Africa during the years since, but most people tuned out long ago. I expect, however, that they’ll be tuning back in very soon. Why? Largely because South Africa will be hosting the 2010 World Cup next summer, but also for another reason: over the next few months, South Africa will present a compelling argument that it is a rising superpower in the world of film.

Indeed, no fewer than five of this year’s most talked about fall films — all the subject of awards chatter, to varying degrees — have come out of South Africa: Neill Blomkamp‘s “District 9” (8/14, trailer), a science-fiction allegory of Apartheid starring Sharlto Copley; Steve Jacobs‘s “Disgrace” (9/11, trailer), an adaptation of J.M. Coetzee‘s Nobel Prize-winning novel about life in post-Apartheid South Africa, starring John Malkovich and newcomer Jessica Haines; Anthony Fabian‘s “Skin” (10/30, trailer), the true story of a young girl named Sandra Laing and South Africa’s absurd race classification laws that tore her family apart, featuring Sophie Okonedo and Sam Neill; Pete Travis‘s “Endgame” (10/30, trailer), a thriller about covert negotiations that helped to end Apartheid, with William Hurt and Chiwetel Ejiofor; and Clint Eastwood‘s “Invictus” (12/11, trailer not yet released), which chronicles the unlikely bond that developed during the runup to the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa between its black president and white rugby team captain — played by Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon, respectively — which helped to unite the nation.

A few films from and/or about South Africa have been released sporadically in the past. Notable examples include Sir Richard Attenborough‘s “Cry Freedom” (1987, trailer), an adaptation of a book about an unlikely bond between a white South African newspaper editor (Kevin Kline) and a black South African activist named Steven Biko (Denzel Washington‘s performance earned him his first career Oscar nomination); Chris Menges‘ “A World Apart” (1988, trailer), the true story of an anti-Apartheid activist who became the first white woman (Barbara Hershey) detained by the government under its 90-Day Detention Act; Euzhan Palcy‘s “A Dry White Season” (1989), which brought Marlon Brando the last of his eight career Oscar nods — and his only one for best supporting actor — for his performance as a barrister retained by a white South African (Donald Sutherland) who witnesses the worst of Apartheid and decides to take on his government; and Darrell Roodt‘s “Cry, the Beloved Country” (1995), in which a black man and a white man (James Earl Jones and Richard Harris, respectively) are brought together by a shared tragedy involving their sons. (A young Sidney Poitier starred in Zoltan Korda‘s 1952 production.)

But South African cinema only really began to take off five years ago, when Roodt’s “Yesterday” (2004, trailer) became the first South African film ever nominated for the Academy Award for best foreign language film. A year later, Gavin Hood‘s “Tsotsi” (2005, trailer) was not only nominated for but won that prize, becoming a source of national pride and an inspiration for the South African government to invest heavily in the nation’s burgeoning film industry. In its footsteps have followed several other awards-worthy films, including Mark Dornford-May‘s “U-Carmen” (2005, trailer), an adaptation of the 19th century opera “Carmen” set in a South African township and performed in the Xhosa language; John Barker‘s “Bunny Chow” (2006, trailer), an uproarious road comedy; Ralph Ziman‘s “Jerusalema” (2008, trailer), a gangster film that created the first big star of South African cinema, Rapulana Seiphemo; Michael Raeburn‘s “Triomf” (2008, trailer), a drama set in an impoverished white suburb on the eve of South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994; and, most recently, Jann Turner‘s “White Wedding” (2009, trailer), a buddy comedy featuring an ensemble cast (including Seiphemo and “Venus” up-and-comer Jodie Whittaker) that South Africa has submitted for consideration at next year’s Oscars.

It was really only a matter of time before foreigners caught on to the benefits of shooting in South Africa. Among them: the nation’s low production costs (it’s estimated to be 40% cheaper to shoot in Cape Town than in Hollywood), unparalleled diversity of backdrops (oceans, beaches, deserts, prairies, plains, mountains, jungles, vineyards, shantytowns, suburbs, and modern cities), and state-of-the-art filmmaking tools (including soundstages, post-production facilities, and skilled crews) have attracted a growing number of international productions and stars.

This led to the impressive crop of Hollywood movies emanating — in large part or in full — from South Africa over the past five years, which paved the way for the remarkable 2009 output. These have included John Boorman‘s “In My Country” (2004, trailer), a drama about two journalists (Samuel L. Jackson and Juliette Binoche) covering South Africa’s post-Apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission; Tom Hooper‘s “Red Dust” (2004, trailer), in which an expatriate South African human rights laywer (Hilary Swank) returns home to represent a black man in a case against the white police officer who tortured him years earlier; Andrew Niccol‘s “Lord of War” (2005), starring Nicolas Cage as an international arms dealer in business with an African warlord; Edward Zwick‘s “Blood Diamond” (2006, trailer), the story of two Africans (Leonardo DiCaprio and Djimon Hounsou) desperately seeking a rare diamond for very different reasons and the journalist entangled in their quest (Jennifer Connelly); Phillip Noyce‘s “Catch a Fire” (2006, trailer), an account of an apolitical black man (Derek Luke) who becomes radicalized after he and his family are arrested and tortured by a white anti-terrorism squad leader (Tim Robbins) for a crime he did not commit; and Billie August‘s “Goodbye Bafana” (2007, trailer), which chronicles the evolution of the unlikely friendship that developed between Mandela (Dennis Haysbert) and one of his jail guards (Joseph Fiennes).

Next year will bring Lonny Price‘s “Master Harold… and the Boys” (2010), an adaptation of a Tony-nominated play about a white South African boy (Freddie Highmore) who is caught between his bigoted father and his beloved caretakers (one played by Ving Rhames); Steven Silver‘s “The Bang Bang Club” (2010), a true story about four photographers (including Ryan Phillippe, Malin Akerman, and Taylor Kitsch) who documented violence in townships during the final days of Apartheid; and no doubt others, as well.

Clearly, the South African film industry has never been as strong as it is today. One of the fastest growing sectors of the nation’s economy, it employs some 25,000 people and contributes roughly $800 million a year to the nation’s gross domestic product. Based on this year’s remarkable output, those numbers — like the quality of the films coming out of South Africa — seem poised for continued and marked growth over the years to come.

Photo: The flag of South Africa. Courtesy: University of Oslo.

Related: “South African Film: Beyond Black and White” (TIME), “South African Film Industry” (South Africa Info), “Studios to Make Movie Magic” (Filmmaker South Africa), Cinema of South Africa (Wikipedia)