Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom deserved the Oscar, as did Chadwick Boseman. Why didn’t they get it?

Yesterday I believe for the first time in my life I decided to see a movie for a second time. The movie was Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. I decided to see it after watching a short Netflix documentary on the life of Chadwick Boseman. Seeing the movie for the second time confirmed what I said after the first, that it may be the best movie I’ve seen in my life. The performance of all the actors was first rate but especially that of Levee. The fact that Levee killed another black man after being turned down by a while man (the manager of the recording studio who reneged on his promise to listen to the songs he had composed) was symbolic of how oppressed people take out on their own people the unfair treatment they receive from the dominant group.

The movie should have won the Oscar for best movie and Boseman for best actor. Why didn’t it?  For two reasons. First and most important was the scene in which Levee says God hates blacks and asks why didn’t He do anything when his mother was raped and when the black priest was threatened by a white mob since God should protect priests above all others. The Oscar people would have come under heavy attack from the Evangelists had the movie been awarded an Oscar. There is a second reason. The two white guys who ran the recording studio were obviously Jews and they reinforced stereotypes especially with regard to money. But in addition, one of them humiliated himself on each encounter with Ma Rainey and he didn’t seem to mind it. Too bad because the movie deserved the Oscar, as did the late Chadwick Boseman.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MYzlgRQXBY