Oscar Woman / Oscar Wisdom

The Academy Awards continue to dominate water cooler conversation, whether at the work place or in cyberspace. Movie history was made Sunday night with Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker pulling off a David vs. Goliath win over ex-husband James Cameron's box office-breaking Avatar. Bigelow is the first woman in the history of the awards to win in the Best Director category.

Comedienne Mo'Nique's win for Best Supporting Actress was much less of a surprise, which is kind of a surprise in and of itself. From the time the film Precious debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009, Mo'Nique has received almost universal critical acclaim for her performance as Mary Jones, the repulsively abusive mother of an illiterate pregnant teen mother.

Precious is a tough movie to watch. It takes the audience into some of the darkest places in the human soul, and the character of Mary Jones is the main tour guide. The reason that Mo'Nique's Oscar win was considered to be a lead pipe cinch is that somehow, she manages to cast a sliver of light on the humanity of her character; a woman who easily could have been rendered as beyond the reach of any positive human emotion.

On NPR's Morning Edition, correspondent Mandalit del Braco shares part of a backstage interview with Mo'Nique after her Oscar win. A reporter asks the actress how she could identify in any way with such a dark, toxic character. Mo'Nique turns the question around to reveal a larger, more universal truth, which forms the basis of her performance. The NPR transcript follows:

Ms. MONIQUE: Have you ever had a dark moment when you were unlovable? I'm asking you the question.

Unidentified Woman: Yes.

Ms. MONIQUE: And didn't you want somebody to love you through it?

Unidentified Woman: Yes.

Ms. MONIQUE: That was that thing for me. For as cruel as Mary Jones was, for the monster that she was, everybody - and I don't care who you are and what crime you've committed - everybody deserves to be loved, even when they're unlovable.

You can hear all of del Barco's report here.

How wonderful that amid the glitz and glamor of Oscar night there was a truth more grand and more beautiful than any red carpet star.