On The BAFTA List, Good Films, But None About Topics That Worry Us Most

deadline.com:

Not so long ago, it looked as if the movies had firmly embraced topicality. Digital technology had radically shortened the production cycle.

Ferociously reportorial writers and/or directors like Mark Boal, Aaron Sorkin and Oliver Stone were speeding toward the screen with timely, ‘ripped-from-the-headlines’ films like Zero Dark Thirty, The Social Network and Snowden even while their real-life characters and plot lines were still unfolding.

It was pretty heady stuff, all caught up in Congressional scrutiny, court transcripts and debate about ongoing government surveillance of just about everyone.The news-movie mash-up helped us to figure things out.

Some of it was even great cinema.Which makes this year’s longlist for the BAFTA best film award—a pretty fair compendium of the most compelling motion pictures currently available—something of a puzzlement.