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Iraq war drama "The Hurt Locker" dominated the 82nd Academy Awards yesterday, scooping six Oscars including best picture on a historic night in Hollywood.
The nerve-jangling movie about a US Army bomb disposal squad in Baghdad blew away it's rivals, with film-maker Kathryn Bigelow becoming the first woman ever to win the Oscar for best director.
"This really is, there's no other way to describe it, the moment of a lifetime," said Bigelow, only the fourth woman ever to be nominated for the best director award by Academy voters.
"I'd like to dedicate this to the women and men in the military who risk their lives in a daily basis in Iraq and Afghanistan and around the world," Bigelow added. "May they come home safe."
The top acting honors went to Hollywood veterans Jeff Bridges for his performance as an alcoholic country singer in "Crazy Heart" and Sandra Bullock, for her role as a feisty housewife in the sports drama "The Blind Side."
It was a perfectly scripted night at the Kodak Theater for Bigelow, whose low-budget film had been locked in a duel with "Avatar," the 500-million-dollar science-fiction epic directed by her ex-husband James Cameron.
Cameron's phenomenally successful blockbuster -- the highest-grossing film in history with more than 2.5 billion dollars in earnings -- finished the night with three Oscars, mostly in technical categories.
The face-off between Bigelow and Cameron's films had been billed as the "Battle of the Exes" but the two film-makers smiled and joked throughout the evening as they sat just a few feet apart throughout the show.
The acting awards largely followed the form-book, with Bridges finally landing an Oscar after four previous unsuccessful nominations.
Bridges thanked his late parents in an acceptance speech which came 39 years after his first Oscar nomination. "Thank you mum and dad for turning me on to such a groovy profession," said a delighted Bridges, who had earlier welled up with tears after a moving tribute from Michelle Pfeiffer.
Bullock meanwhile completed a uniquely dubious double with her best actress award, which came just 24 hours after she was crowned worst actress at the Razzies, the annual eve-of-Oscars parody.
"Did I really earn this or did I just wear you all down?" said Bullock, whose Oscar-winning role was based on the true story of Leigh Anne Tuohy, who took in a homeless black teenager Michael Oher and helped set him on the road to an American football career.
Bullock later revealed she planned to proudly display her Razzie award next to her Oscar statuette.
"They're going to sit side by side, as they should. You take the good with the not so good," Bullock said. "It probably means more that both of them happened at the same time because it's the great equalizer.
"You know, nothing ever let's me get too full of myself."
The supporting actor awards went to Austria's Christoph Waltz for his portrayal of a sadistic Nazi officer in Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds," and Mo'Nique, a monstrous parent in harrowing drama "Precious."
Mo'Nique's triumph made her only the only the fifth black actress in history to win an Oscar after Hattie McDaniel, Whoopi Goldberg, Halle Berry and Jennifer Hudson.
The 42-year-old paid tribute to trailblazing "Gone With the Wind" actress McDaniel in her acceptance speech and later revealed she had picked out her Oscars outfit in honor of her predecessor.
"I want to thank Miss Hattie McDaniel for enduring all that she had to so that I would not have to," Mo'Nique said. "The reason why I have on this royal blue dress is because it's the color that Hattie McDaniel wore in 1940 when she accepted her Oscar," Mo'Nique said.
"So, for you, Miss Hattie McDaniel, I feel you all over me, and it's about time that the world feels you all over them.
Waltz meanwhile was in raptures after collecting his statuette from Spanish siren Penelope Cruz.
"Oscar and Penelope -- that's uber bingo," a delighted Waltz said. "There's no way I can ever thank you enough but I can start right now -- thank you."
"Up," about an elderly gent who ties balloons to his home to live his dream of seeing the wilds of South America, took the award for best animated feature.
Argentine movie "El Secreto de Sus Ojos" (The Secret in their Eyes) landed Argentina its first Oscar statuette in 25 years Sunday when it scooped the award for the best foreign film.
Juan Jose Campanella's latest feature beat "Ajami" from Israel, "The Milk of Sorrow" from Peru, "Un Prophete" from France and "The White Ribbon" from Germany to win the Oscar prize for best foreign-language film.
