While most people go to the movies to escape the avalanche of bad news that seeks to overwhelm us, two films with topical subjects are emerging as the frontrunners in the Best Picture Oscar race. THE HURT LOCKER, the much lauded Iraqi War drama directed by Kathryn Bigelow, and UP IN THE AIR, the Jason Reitman-helmed, George Clooney-starrer that has the economy and corporate layoffs as its background motif, are the most honored films of the year so far by a range of critics groups and professional guilds. The competition will go down to the wire when the Oscars are officially announced on March 7 at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles.

THE HURT LOCKER, the explosive drama of an army unit whose mission is to safely detonate bombs on the streets of Iraq, has the most critical momentum heading towards the Academy Awards, having already been named as Best Picture by the Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Austin film critics organizations. The film also picked up Best Picture honors at the IFP Gotham Independent Film Awards and is nominated for 8 Critics Choice Awards, including nods for Best Picture, Best Director (Kathryn Bigelow) and Best Actor (Jeremy Renner). The film, which was released over the summer and has been brought back into theaters last month, also won the Best Picture award from the National Society of Film Critics Association earlier this week.

UP IN THE AIR, the third film from writer/director Jason Reitman, is both personal and political in the best sense. It combines a personal story of redemption within an unforgiving context of economic instability and anxiety. George Clooney, the current favorite for a Best Actor Oscar, plays a corporate executive whose job is to inform hapless employees that they have been downsized. His own personal detachment and addiction to the perks of flying and staying in luxury hotels is questioned when he falls for a similarly free spirited high flyer (played by Vera Farmiga). The film, which has been described as a Frank Capra tale for the new depression, is expected to be the big winner at the Golden Globe Awards ceremony on January 17, giving it added momentum in the crawl towards Oscar night.

If THE HURT LOCKER manages a win as Best Picture, it will perhaps end the curse of similarly themed Iraq War films that have sunk like a stone at the box office these past few years. If UP IN THE AIR wins, it will be the first comedy (albeit a rather serious one) to win the top honors in many moons. In either case, choosing a film with topical gravitas (as opposed to the more eye-popping pleasures of AVATAR) seems appropriate for the current American zeitgeist.

Sandy Mandelberger, Awards Watch Editor