Denmark is on the brink of history, but its media do not seem to understand how close the country is to achieving something incredibly special this coming Sunday night at the Oscars.
They seem to be blinked by two factors: ‘Druk’ (‘Another round’), which captures 90 percent of the media coverage right now, and the inability of Danish journalists in the field of probability. They tend to rely on a handful of crusty experts (DR had a ‘two out of three experts predict a victory’ story) over the bookmakers.
The truth, when the odds is correctly assessed, is that Denmark has a 13/5 chance of winning three statuettes on Sunday. Yes, three …
On Monday morning, the country could wake up to the most exaggerated Dannebrog-waving session since the national football team won Euro 1992.
A tasty treble
Let’s start with ‘Press’. It is generally available at 1/7 to win, meaning that if the Oscars were settled eight times, it would win seven of the statuettes.
Next is ‘The Letter Room’ for ‘Best Live Action Short’. Directed by the Danish filmmaker Elvira Lind, it has a secret weapon on its side that has seen it cemented as a 4/6 favorite: the main star ‘Star Wars’ actor Oscar Isaac, who happens to be Lind’s husband.
The outsider of the three is Mikkel EG Nielsen, who is an equal money shot to win the ‘Best Editing’ award for his work with ‘Sound of Metal’.
However, Nielsen is only the common favorite, and some bookmakers have the editor of ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ a little ahead of the game.
The result is that a 1/7, 4/6 and Evens (decimal odds: 1.13, 1.6 & 2.0) treble gives you odds of 13/5 (3.6).
Right up there with the best
It is true that Denmark has a lot to thank ‘Druk’ for. Should it win for the category ‘Best international function’, as is widely expected, it will take Denmark to fourth place on the list of winners in this category.
Only Italy (11), France (9) and Spain (4, but with more nominations) would stand above it.
And perhaps even more markedly, with four Oscars, Denmark would link Italy to the country that has won the most since 1987.
The country can take extra satisfaction by referring Sweden with three Oscars, but several nominations, to a fifth place. And this is not something because Sweden has received six Oscar nominations in the category ‘Best Director’ compared to Denmark’s one: Thomas Vinterburg for ‘Druk’ this year.
The story waves to Denmark
In total, Denmark has been discounted Viggo Mortensen’s nominations and Lars von Trier’s dubious nod for ‘Best Song’ together with Björk in 2000, and has been nominated 35 times and won 11 Oscars.
The total number does not include the four nominations this year – the latter is nodded to ‘Best Instructor’ for Vinterburg as he is 40/1 to win.
And each and every one of these victories has come in a different year, which means that this year may mark the first time in history that Denmark has won two Oscars the same night … let alone three!
Source: The Nordic Page