Scorsese's Legion of Doom?

Martin Scorsese is undoubtedly one of the greatest filmmakers in American history. This is taken as a fact, despite such lofty status not being confirmed with an Academy Award. Scorsese, however, didn't give up on his, often futile quest for golden statue and this resulted in at least two expensive and sometimes over-hyped epics made exactly for that purpose.

The Aviator is, however, seen as much stronger and potentially more rewarding effort than over-hyped Gangs of New York. Many critics claim that The Aviator will in the end erase one of the great injustices in history of American cinema.

However, I'm a little bit sceptical. Scorsese's cause might be seriously hampered with Legion of Honour awards given to him and Leonardo di Caprio by French culture minister. Being appreciated by French isn't as un-American and anti-Hollywood as it was two years ago, but Academy Award campaigns continue to be very competitive and dirty business. At least some voters are going to use Legion of Honour as the argument for not giving an Oscar to Scorsese.