Ang Lee: The Right Winner for Best Director Oscar at the Academy Awards 2013

Ang Lee: The Right Winner for Best Director Oscar at the Academy Awards 2013

Ang Lee is no stranger to awards. His movies have received 38 Academy Award nominations and won 12, but to win Best Director for Life of Pi was nothing short of a shock for most. Its stunning visuals set it up for a win in the cinematography category, but Best Director (without wanting to belittle our expectations of Lee or of the movie itself) certainly seemed a toss up between Steven Spielberg for Lincoln or Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty.  

However, we were all wrong, and gladly so. In his acceptance speech Lee thanked the cast, the crew, Fox, and Taiwan itself, all components of which came together to make one of the most beautiful films to watch of all time. "Suraj, where are you?" He said, the Telegraph quotes. "You're a miracle. He [carries] the movie. Every one of you in the cast... You're the golden statue in my heart." 

Lee is well deserved of the award. While yes, indeed, the cast, the crew and the country all came together to make it work, it was Lee who brought all those components under one roof, as it were. It was Lee's vision that made the unfilmable, filmable; the impossible, possible. And that is something that should always be commended.