2001: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Nominees:
- A Beautiful Mind (actual winner)
- Gosford Park
- In the Bedroom
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
- Moulin Rouge!
Right sentiment, wrong movie.
When the third and final Lord of the Rings movie won best picture it was, from all appearances, an award for the trilogy as a whole. Shot simultaneously from October of 1999 to December of 2000, everyone involved deserved recognition for the achievement in filmmaking that it was. But the Fellowship of the Ring, not The Return of the King, was the best of the three. It really should have been given the honors. Fellowship had the formidable task of introducing the world of Middle Earth to a general audience — the foundational lore, the larger themes and the nine central companions. Had it failed, so would the rest of the trilogy. Fellowship was a success on every level, and manages to tell the most satisfying, self-contained story of the three.
Also, it’s the one with Sean Bean.
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