Baftas 2007

By Ewen Hosie

THE BAFTAS this year represented another predictable triumph for the British film industry, with The Queen receiving best picture and Helen Mirren receiving a BEST ACTRESS award in her performance as Elizabeth II.

The flawed The Last King of Scotland won BEST BRITISH FILM against the likes of Casino Royale (something of an outsider among more traditional competition) and curiously enough, given its overall best picture award, The Queen, which failed to win in this category. The Last King of Scotland also achieved a deserved BEST ACTOR win for Forest Whitaker, in his scenery-chewing role as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.

Paul Greengrass’ verite style for United 93 won against strong competition in the BEST DIRECTOR category from the likes of Martin Scorcese and Stephen Frears.

Alan Arkin got the award for

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR in indie favourite Little Miss Sunshine, a somewhat iconoclastic but highly deserved choice among judges.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS went to Jennifer Hudson in the glossy biopic Dreamgirls, beating a double nomination for Little Miss Sunshine (Abigail Breslin, Toni Collette).

Little Miss Sunshine also achieved the award for BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY by Michael Arndt, proving that comedy could best the heavy-hitters such as Babel and United 93, also nominated.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY went to The Last King of Scotland in a weaker than usual year, with William Monahan’s The Departed screenplay perhaps unfairly losing to the inferior Last King, a move which seems laced with pandering to British institution.

The depressing sobriety of Children of Men’s visuals beat out flashier competition (Casino Royale, Pan’s Labyrinth) to win the BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY award.

The film also went on to win the Bafta for BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN against similarly strong competition (again, the main competition included Pan’s Labyrinth, Casino Royale and the even more expensive Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest).

The award for BEST MUSIC went to Gustavo Santaolalla for Babel, with his eclectic style rising above the pomp of David Arnold’s Casino Royale score, also nominated.

Unlike the Oscars (see below) Paul Verhoeven got a nomination for BEST FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, but eventually (and fairly) lost to the epochal Pan’s Labyrinth.