8 Terrible Films That Somehow Won The Best Picture Oscar

6. Braveheart

Year: 1995 Fellow Nominees: Apollo 13, Babe, Il Postino, Sense and Sensibility If it didn't come in such an insipid lineup, Braveheart's win would be even harder to take. As it is, Mel Gibson's film, enjoyable though it can be (in the battle scenes, at least), is still a terrible Best Picture winner, overlong and historically-all-over-the-place and helmed by a director and star (Gibson, obviously) to whom nuance is an alien word. Granted, it's a big, bombastic picture about William Wallace's revolt against King Edward I, but it remains that Mel Gibson as a director is about as subtle as a stomach ulcer. Nominated for ten Oscars overall, Braveheart won half, with Gibson winning for best director amid a bunch of technical wins for cinematography, effects, and makeup. Like I said, in a year comprised of not one truly great film, Braveheart's win doesn't jar as much as it could, and you can perhaps see the Academy's thinking in regard to the esoteric nature of films like Il Postino or Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility. Still, Braveheart is one of the most nominated films in Oscar history, and its success no doubt paved the way for other Mel Gibson "history" pieces like The Passion of the Christ, a film so overwrought and ridiculous that it makes Braveheart look quaint.