You can keep the politics out of the Academy Awards.

Well…not really. Tonight’s winner for Best Live Action Short Film, West Bank Story, makes sure that the Oscars see a dose of what’s really on intellectual America’s mind.

Beyond the questions of what exactly Nicole Kidman is wearing and who will win the coveted Best Picture award, the reality is that America still exists outside of the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, even tonight.

Two fated lovers meet West Side Story-style between two opposing falafel stands in Ari Sandel’s comic take on the conflict between Pakistan and Israel. The dance clips, found both in the trailer and the film, could compete with any Broadway musical.

Short or not so short, this film can roll with the punches. And Sandel encapsulated the tension between the film’s weighty subject matter and lighthearted approach perfectly for the billions of viewers.

“One of the things I wanted to do was combat all of the negative news that’s constantly in the news about the situation, and I felt that the best way to do that would be through comedy,” said Sandel.

And his approach on the always-pressing situation in the Middle East was not the only political commentary, to be sure.

As Leonardo DiCaprio and former Vice President Al Gore announced, the Academy Awards have “gone green.”

“Though we may have a long way to go, all of us can do something in our own lives to make a difference,” said Gore, after gracefully refusing DiCaprio’s bait to announce his often-debated position on running for Commander in Chief of the United States.

We still don’t know what Gore’s up to as for 2008, but we do know one thing for certain after tonight’s awards — the American public and the global public is not as vapid as commonly teemed.

While fashion, fun, and entertainment matter, so do national politics, international politics, and thinking green, even in the entertainment industry.

Juana Maria Summers