James Cameron will have to console himself with the over $2.5 billion in worldwide box office receipts that his film, Avatar, has raked in over the past few months (and more coming in daily). When it came time to hand out the Oscars at the end of the seemingly-eternal Academy Awards ceremony, Cameron’s neo-pagan/environmental vision was trounced in all the categories that focus on storytelling – though kudos are due to his technical crew who raised the bar on visual 3-D effects. And even the technical thrill is likely to be short-lived. Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland – another 3-D extravaganza – had opening weekend ticket sales that eclipsed that of Avatar’s. Still, there is something to be said for delivering first.

So if giant blue indigenous aliens fighting greedy capitalist strip miners couldn’t wrest gold from the Academy, what kind of stories did? This year, it was tales of sacrifice and redemption – at least in the main categories for screenplay, three of the four main acting awards, direction, best animated feature and best picture.

Precious

Both Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire and The Hurt Locker are intensely personal films. The first is the story of an urban African-American teenager saddled with just about every disadvantage one can imagine: poor, obese, nearly illiterate, living in a severely damaged family, raped and pregnant. Almost anyone would drown in despair, but a teacher and a social worker look beyond appearances and throw out a lifeline. Taking in less than ten percent of Avatar’s domestic box office gross, perhaps this win for best adapted screenplay, along with a best supporting actress win for Mo’Nique will encourage more people to see it.

Crazy Heart

Jeff Bridges won a long-overdue award for Best Actor as Bad Blake, an alcoholic country singer who, when we meet him, hit bottom, smashed right through, and continued his descent. His interview with a music journalist Jean Craddock leads to love and what appears to be a standard redemption formula relationship, but the story refuses to go there. Crazy Heart lacks the witness of Tender Mercies – still the best film of this genre. Still, Bad’s realistic road toward sobriety through Alcoholics Anonymous reads hope into an otherwise hopeless life.

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