Tonight, Hollywood will once again immerse itself in its great festival of congratulations, speeches and politics called the 'Academy Awards', or more colloquially, 'The Oscars'.
As one who has always loved the movies, I am naturally interested to know who receives the Oscar for whatever particular creative field they were working in; and yet I always feel strangely uneasy about this event, wondering whether it really rewards talent, or is more about who released their picture at just the right time to be 'in the running', who knew who, and perhaps above all, who paid the most money to the right people. That said, there will undoubtedly also be some very worthy winners this evening.
One other question which always runs around my mind on this day concerns all those wonderful Actors and Actresses, in so many great films, who will never win an Oscar, never be at the awards ceremony, and perhaps never even be heard of by most people. Every year I think of those fantastic performances which could easily have been worthy of an Award, and I am sure you can all think of your own 'Nominations'.
So on Oscars night, allow me to leave you with one of my foremost personal 'Nominations' for an Academy Award that never was...

In the Category of Best Actor in a Leading Role:

Jürgen Prochnow for The Captain in 'Das Boot' (The Boat); [1981].

Directed by Wolfgang Petersen and originally released for television, this film stands as one of the greatest war films ever made; and is one of the most realistic portrayals of submarine warfare in the Second World War ever shot. I could literally pick several truly outstanding performances, but Prochnow stands out for me as one of the most powerful and moving male leads I have ever seen.

For those of you staying up, I hope you enjoy the show, and good luck to all the Nominees at tonight's Oscars...