The odds for Meryl Streep to win the Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role award at this year’s Academy Awards are 25-1, while the odds of winning the Best Motion Picture of the Year Award for the film “The Post” are 50-1.

“The Post”, co-written by Liz Hannah and Josh Singer, and directed by the legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg, is a solid contender to win this year’s Academy Award for the Best Motion Picture of the Year. However, nothing seems easy when it comes to predicting this year’s winner.

Let me first briefly remind you of the film. “The Post” follows the chronicle of events that led to the Pentagon Papers being leaked to the press.  Katherine Graham (Meryl Streep) is the first female publisher of the Washington Post, who, in the race to catch up with The New York Times, first, has to decide whether to expose the governmental secrets. The film talks about Freedom of Press – the First Amendment Right of US Constitution, and an article that manages to send The White House down.

While it is terrifying to make comparisons and find the similarities between then and now, especially when it comes to the constant attacks on freedom of speech by the White House, Spielberg’s film is not just about the democracy that can die in darkness. This film features some really strong performance by the twenty-times Oscar nominee Meryl Streep who has a solid chance to win her fourth Oscar. However, as I mentioned above, Meryl Streep has only 25-1 odds of winning as Best Actress award, and “The Post” 50-1 odds to win the Best Movie award. And here is the reason why.

At the end of this article, you can find the full list of nominees for this year’s Best Motion Picture award. One look at it is enough to remind you a collection of exotic dishes that each can be a delight to dine on but make it very hard to make a choice. “Call Me By Your Name” is an instant classic love story – beautifully written, flawless directing and a performance that will stun the viewer to the core. Films like this should be considered as a treasure to be passed on to the next generation. So, what about its chances to win? I’d say that is pretty possible. Though for that to happen, we’ll have to eliminate one particular nominee from the list. A film, that is equally important and painfully relevant to today’s issues in the same way as “The Post”. That film is called “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.”

Before discussing the chances of this film, let me quickly discard those films, that, although did a great job to be on the list of the nominees, I doubt will be throwing a party to celebrate a victory on that precious night. The four films that I will take out of the list are the following: “Dunkirk”, “Darkest Hour”, “Phantom Thread” and “Get out”.  Now, I think that Spielberg will be competing mainly with these three films – have to compete against – “The Shape of Water”, “Lady Bird”, and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.”

Guillermo Del Toro’s  “The Shape of Water” creates a perfect fantasy world for us, with a truly unimaginable love story, and I believe it has a great chance to be coronated. Now, Greta Gerwig’s “Lady Bird” can be called the ‘dark horse’ of this list which still has all the chances to beat the heavy-weighted titans of the Hollywood. As to Martin McDonagh’s “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”, I believe this film has all the stars in the sky pointing at it as a true winner of the night. You’ll probably ask why. I believe that both these films – “Three Billboards” and “The Post” serve as a wakeup call and carry an important message to our society. Perhaps, the Academy will want to undertake the role of a messenger to deliver it through acknowledging one of these films and helping its message to be delivered.

Motion Picture of the Year Award nominees:

“Call Me by Your Name”
“Darkest Hour”
“Dunkirk”
“Get Out”
“Lady Bird”
“Phantom Thread”
“The Post”
“The Shape of Water”
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

Meryl Streep is a phenomenal actress who deserves all the awards this planet can possibly offer, though I am sure the odds of 25-1 do not look very hopeful when the historic day arrives. Let’s quickly look at the other nominees. Sally Hawkins delivers a masterful performance in “The Shape of Water” and Saoirse Ronan’s nuanced portrayal of “Lady Bird” is stunning. Yet, it is Margot Robbie and Frances McDormand who both demonstrate absolutely admirable approaches, creating two very different characters who could be the perfect winners of the Night.

Now, all we can do is just to wait for the most anticipated night of the year when the envelope will be unfolded. Until then, here is again the list of the actresses, who will be waiting for that moment.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role:

Sally Hawkins, “The Shape of Water”
Frances McDormand, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Margot Robbie, “I, Tonya”
Saoirse Ronan, “Lady Bird”
Meryl Streep, “The Post”