It won an Oscar in somewhat controversial fashion.
Fresh from adding a generous handful of new movies earlier this week, Amazon Prime Video has just uploaded one of the most emotional films of the last few years.
Featuring strong performances from Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman, The Father tells the story of a woman named Anne (Colman) and her attempts to help her ailing father, as played by Hopkins.
Hopkins’ character Anthony is living with dementia and has driven away the last of his caregivers, resulting in a difficult scenario in which he begins to doubt everything around him.
Released to critical acclaim across both 2020 and 2021 – the pandemic has rather played havoc with release dates in different parts of the world – the film boasts a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the work of Hopkins and Colman receiving universal praise.
The Father also resulted in some mild controversy at last year’s Academy Awards ceremony.
Practically everyone watching the show had expected Chadwick Boseman to be honoured with a posthumous Best Actor Oscar, to the point that Steven Soderbergh – who acted as director of the event – reportedly changed the format around to put that category on last, in place of the traditional Best Picture reveal.
As such, it seemed a foregone conclusion that Boseman’s name would be called out and this would prove a poignant and powerful way to conclude the broadcast.
In the end, Anthony Hopkins would win the award in something of a notable shock.
As it turned out, he wasn’t present for the event, nor even awake when his name was read aloud by Joaquin Phoenix.
A relatively bemused but no less gracious Hopkins would later upload a video to Instagram, paying his respects to Boseman.
Clip via CBS Los Angeles
From today, you can judge for yourself.
Be warned, however – this one is highly emotional.
The Father is on Amazon Prime Video now.
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