The Help and A Film About A Barber Are Nominated for Oscars

by Frederick H. Lowe
A short documentary about an 85-year-old African-American barber, who was a soldier in the civil-rights movement, and the feature film The Help, about black domestic workers, received Oscar nominations, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Tuesday.

The Academy nominated The Help for five Oscars, including Best Picture. Viola Davis was nominated for best performance by an actress in a leading role. Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain were each nominated for best performance by an actress in a supporting role. Spencer and Davis are black actresses.

Davis will compete against Glenn Close for her role in Albert Nobbs, Rooney Mara in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady and Michelle Williams in My Week with Marilyn.

Chastain and Spencer are competing against each other and against Bérénice Bejo in The Artist, Melissa McCarthy in Bridesmaids and Janet McTeer in Albert Nobbs. Spencer recently won a Golden Globe, making her the favorite to take home an Oscar.

In the Best Picture category, The Help will compete with The Descendants, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Hugo, Midnight In Paris, Money Ball, The Tree of Life and War Horse.

San Francisco-based filmmakers Gail Dolgin and Robin Fryday's 25-minute documentary about James Armstrong, an 85-year-old Birmingham, Ala., barber, was nominated for an Oscar in the category of Best Documentary Short Subject.

The film, The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement, opens with Mr. Armstrong straightening up his shop to begin his day, which is the day before the 2008 presidential election. The radio announcer's voice urges everyone to vote the next day (see video).

Mr. Armstrong then sits in his barber's chair, and the camera pans the shop's walls. They are covered with faded newspaper clippings that celebrate African American victories and remind customers of struggles blacks have had to face.

Photographs of Jackie Robinson; L. Douglas Wilder, former governor of Virginia; Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; Jesse Jackson and Mr. Armstrong marching in civil rights demonstrations are among the mementos, along with a “white's only” sign.

The one milestone clipping that is not on his wall is Barack Obama's election as president of the United States. Although the election is the next day, and Obama's election is a certainty, Mr. Armstrong has difficulty believing it

“I have seen some terrible days,” he says to the camera. On March 7, 1965, he carried the American Flag across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., in a civil-rights march to Montgomery, Ala. State troopers attacked the marchers with billy clubs and tear gas in what became known as “Bloody Sunday.”

“A black man is president of the United States,” Mr. Armstrong says. “How do you say that to yourself?”

The  84th Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday, Feb. 26, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. ABC Television will broadcast the event beginning at 4 p.m./EST.