Best Actress in a Supporting Role 2007: Ruby Dee in American Gangster

Ruby Dee received her only Oscar nomination for her performance as Mama Lucas in American Gangster. 

American Gangster is a rather effective movie about a detective's attempt to bring down the drug empire of heroin kingpin Frank Lucas in 1970s. I don't think the movie is perfect as I believe there are a few flaws in it: I think that, even though the movie is rather long, Lucas' rise as one of the most powerful criminals of the city feels a bit too rushed and I also think the writers sort of gloss over Lucas' crimes by making him look like an anti-hero at times. Nonetheless, I find the movie an entertaining experience thanks to Ridley Scott's very good direction (and I like him less than most people in general) and some effective performances: I don't care too much for Denzel Washington but here I think he does a strong job in portraying both the charisma and the brutality of Lucas and Russell Crowe is very effective as the detective. Josh Brolin is also quite impressive in his limited role.

Ruby Dee plays the role of Lucas' mother and back then she was actually considered a very strong contender for the prize: nowadays, her performance is often regarded as the weak link among her fellow nominees and most people seem to consider her nomination as a recognition for her long, successful career rather than her actual work in this movie. It's easy to see why: in this two hours and half long movie, Ruby Dee is on screen for roughly five minutes and it's completely understandable why someone would find her performance underwhelming. The limitations of the role are indeed heavy and there's only so much Ruby Dee can do with it, but even if those factors make her performance less powerful than the ones given by the other contenders, it still is unfair to dismiss her performance here because it is anything but weak. It might not be the greatest performance ever and it might not be worthy of the hype it got in 2007 but it's still a moving, little performance that ultimately is the emotional crux of the whole movie.

Mama Lucas is a key character to the overall characterization of Lucas as through her we manage to understand more the struggle and hardship that he had to face during his youth. In Dee's first scene, in which Lucas shows her the big, beautiful house he bought for her, both actors do a great job in showing the deep affection between Lucas and his mother and they convey beautifully their history despite it never being shown or directly talked about. Ruby Dee does a wonderfully touching job in showing Mama Lucas' joy and pride as she sees what her son managed to accomplish (she is unaware of his criminal life or maybe she unwilling to acknowledge it) and in a few seconds she already makes us understand how much she cares for her family. The small scene in which she sees that the furniture of the house includes a bedroom set identical to the one that was stolen from her when Frank was a child, Dee does some beautifully subtle, quiet acting and her shocked, moved delivery of "But you were only five when they took it away" is simply heartbreaking.

For most of the rest of her performance, Ruby Dee doesn't have to do much more than looking proud at her son and warmly interacting with Washington and Lymari Nadal but she does it exceptionally well and never remains unnoticed. And then there is the big scene towards the end when Mama Lucas finally confronts his son over his decision to kill a cop: again, Mama Lucas is the emotional center of this scene as her disappointment and shame over the true nature of Lucas really shows how much he has gone off track. Dee is simply amazing in this scene in portraying every single emotion of the character as she first attempts to deal calmly with him, and the moment in which she slaps Lucas is extremely powerful emotionally. And when she finally vows to leave him for good if he decides to carry on with his plan Dee is raw and devastating in portraying the disillusionement of a mother who has always thought of her son as a honest man and now has to face the ugly truth. It's not a very long scene but it's in my opinion the highlight of the whole movie.

Even if her work is overall limited by her extremely brief screen-time, Ruby Dee still gives a powerful and memorable performance and it's amazing how she manages to realize her character's arc in what are basically five minutes. She is the beating heart of the movie and delivers a performance that lasts in your mind even long after the movie is over. She may be the least impressive out of the five nominees, but she is not a weak link. 

4/5