Peru and the Oscars

Last night we were all very excited about the chance of seeing 'La Teta Asustada' win for Best Foreign Language film at the Oscars. Unfortunately, it didn't win, but as my husband said, 'At least the Oscar went to South America'. (I say 'Darn you, Argentina!)

But I absolutely love how events like this pull Peruvians together as a country. People who had never watched the Oscar ceremonies before - shoot, people who had never heard of the Academy Awards before - were all excited and star struck at the fact that another Peruvian had done good and put us in the limelight. Magali Solier, the star of 'La Teta Asustada' has been featured and interviewed on news programs all week, and her trip to Hollywood for the ceremony was chronicled for those of us at home. And such a trip it was. I couldn't help but fall just a little bit in love with her, this young woman from Ayacucho who grew up speaking Quechua during the difficult years when Sendero Luminoso was making life dangerous and difficult for people in Peru. The movie (called “The Milk of Sorrow” in English) explores abuses inflicted on Peruvian women during that time period.



Here in Lima, a giant screen was set up in the main square to show the Oscars live. Even though the movie didn't win, it was a great moment for Peru, and the movie itself gives hope that we are moving on from the tragedies in Peru's past.

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• Argentine film wins foreign Oscar (news.bbc.co.uk)
• David Wallechinsky: Academy Awards: Foreign Language Films 2010 (huffingtonpost.com)