Attention Must be Paid

The world lost a great talent when Arthur Miller died in November 2005, but his voice will never be silenced.

Hustle and Flow best-actor nominee Terrence Howard presented the award for documentary short subject at the recent 2006 Oscar awards.

"They are called documentary short subjects, but they are long on impact. The four nominated films examine four different aspects of war. I don't need a lot of words to tell you what these movies are about: Hiroshima, Sudan, Rwanda, and V.E. Day. Attention must be paid."

Howard was referring to films: God Sleeps in Rwanda, The Mushroom Club, The Death of Kevin Carter: Casualty of the Bang Bang Club, and A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin, but theatregoers across the world recognized Miller's words as spoken by Linda Loman in Death of A Salesman.

Corwin, known as America's "poet laureate of radio" won Oscar gold. It was a powerful moment, beautifully defined for me, by the eloquence of Terrence Howard and the lasting brilliance of Arthur Miller.