Finally, Susanne Bier’s Things We Lost in the Fire is a deeply emotional film about a widow who invites her deceased husband’s best friend—a recovering drug addict—to move in with her and her children and help around the house. The emotional landscape of the two individuals trying to rebuild their lives offers lessons in Christian virtues such as charity, hospitality, and most powerfully, forgiveness. It does not settle for easy answers, but demonstrates the religious power that drugs hold over those who are trying to be free of them, keeping them in bondage.  And it shows how lending a hand to those in need of help can sometimes bring unexpected blessings into our lives.

Amid the darkness of this year’s nevertheless crop of Oscar nominees, that’s a message we could have heard a little more loudly, and more often.

PREDICTIONS

My choice for the films that will likely win in several Oscar categories are marked with an asterisk (*), and the films that I think should win are marked with an “x.”

ACTOR—LEADING
(x)George Clooney - Michael Clayton
(*)Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd:  The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Tommy Lee Jones - In the Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises

ACTOR—SUPPORTING
Casey Affleck - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
(*)Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Charlie Wilson's War
(x)Hal Holbrook - Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson - Michael Clayton

ACTRESS—LEADING
Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth:  The Golden Age
(x) (*)Julie Christie - Away from Her
Marion Cotillard - La Vie En Rose
Laura Linney - The Savages
Ellen Page - Juno

ACTRESS—SUPPORTING
(x)Cate Blanchett - I'm Not There
Ruby Dee - American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan - Atonement
Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone
(*)Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton

ANIMATED FEATURE
Persepolis
(x) (*)Ratatouille
Surf's Up

CINEMATOGRAPHY
(x)The Assassnation of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Atonement
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
(*)No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

DIRECTING
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Juno
Michael Clayton
(x) (*)No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
(x) (*)Atonement
Away from Her
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly 
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
(*)Juno
Lars and the Real Girl
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
(x)The Savages

BEST PICTURE
(x)Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
(*)No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood