The 10 great Oscar destinations of 2010

Mar 5, 2010 3:02:38 AM

Vivek Wagle
Lonely Planet Author

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When it comes to virtual travel, nothing beats a movie. The best movies capture a destination perfectly - think the 1970s New York of The Godfather, the impossibly romantic Italy of Roman Holiday or even the wintry North Dakota of Fargo. After the film, you feel an irrepressible urge to get up and explore these new worlds.

Of course, not all worlds can be literally explored. We were distressed by reports that some viewers of Avatar were actually plunged into depression after realising they could never visit the wonderland of Pandora.

So we decided to take action. This year’s Academy Award nominees for Best Picture take place in an incredibly array of settings worldwide (and yes, otherworld-wide as well). We went through the list and picked out some of the great destinations. This is for those who want to take off their 3D glasses and scratch that travel itch.

Memphis, Tennessee (The Blind Side). The city of Michael Oher and the Tuohys is also famous for melodies and barbecue. Music City, USA, is a monument to truly American genres, from country and blues to rock ‘n’ roll. Pay your respects to Elvis, Johnny Cash and Howlin’ Wolf before chowing down on some good ol’ Southern pork.
Johannesburg, South Africa (District 9). A town with a reputation for crime, poverty and misadventure is ripe for a sci-fi thriller. But Jo-burg, more than any other South African city, encapsulates the triumphs and crises of this nation. Missing out on it means passing up a chance to see what makes South Africa tick.
London, England (An Education). A destination that needs no introduction. Featured in the film as a 1960s swinger, London today is buoyant and uncharacteristically affordable.
Iraq (The Hurt Locker). It’s painful that the cradle of civilisation is out of bounds for almost all travellers. But pockets of Iraq, such as the Kurdish areas of the north, remain peaceful and hospitable. And just across the border are the wonders of Jordan, where most of the movie was filmed.
France (Inglourious Basterds). Vichy France of the 1930s and ’40s was a bleak, scary place. Today the country vies annually with Italy for the title of world’s most popular travel destination. And for good reason.
Harlem, New York (Precious). Even before Bill Clinton took up office residence in Harlem, the oft-avoided neighbourhood had been rising in the travel stakes. A cultural hub par excellence and the famous destination of the A-train, Harlem is now a key highlight of any Manhattan visit.
Minneapolis, Minnesota (A Serious Man). The Coen brothers specialise in bringing middle America’s essential wackiness out. And few cities are as crazily lovable as Minneapolis, the artiest (and least attitudinous) city in the Midwest.
South America (Up). It’s a cartoonised version from a cartoon movie, but there’s no way we could leave this continent out of the list. According to our introduction, ‘Real travellers love South America.’ Who’s gonna argue with that?
St Louis, Missouri (Up in the Air). Though set in towns all across the USA, this movie was shot mainly in the quintessentially Great Plains city of St Louis. Step past the famous arch into a city that screams America, from its cuisine to its music.
Pandora (Avatar). We couldn’t resist. OK, you can’t go there. But you can get stupefyingly close in the rainforests of the Brazilian Amazon, Malaysian Borneo or Costa Rica.

A pretty impressive list - and that’s not even considering the other categories.

Have we missed any of the highlights?

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Comments

6 March 2010 5:09AM kurzschluss Report this comment
Brandenburg and Mecklenburg Vorpommern/Germany. 'The white Ribbon' was filmed there. This part of Germany is a absolutely off the beaten track. No foreign tourists go there and the villages and scenery is still like 1914.
6 March 2010 7:41AM adventureish Report this comment
Traveling and movies is what we love, if you were a motorcycle rider you could see all the US spots in one fell swoop--just one reason why we offer cross country motorcycle rentals at jupiter's motorcycle rentals. Well...you couldn't get to Pandora on a motorcycle necessarily. ha --ish http://www.jupitersnyc.com/
6 March 2010 8:46PM filmaps Report this comment
Great article !. We think that film tourism is becoming a big travel industry.
People like to recognize the places that they travel, some of them have seen on tv or on movie theater. Before traveling there are people who want to see stories or movies to know more about the place ... travel guides offer us information of the movies that were filmed in cities or places to visit. We share many of the incredible film set locations of movies ... to see if between all get that information reaches all so easy and useful.
Thanks and enjoy film locations,
David www.filmaps.com
7 March 2010 6:07AM bubbak Report this comment
Sorry to sound not culturally sensitive, but the poverty and crime of Johannesburg represents what went wrong with S.A. before the end of apartheid, and the unfulfilled promises since (with the autocratic and corrupt ANC, including a president who's tone deaf about HIV/AIDS and the consequences of sexual promiscuity). Cape Town, Kruger Park, Nelspruit, perhaps. But Joburg shows that ending apartheid was no magic elixir (which no one should have expected it to be). I am surprised "Invictus"wasn't mentioned. It did show some reality, though it was still romanticized.
15 March 2010 2:10AM michaelkaye Report this comment
If you are visiting Memphis because you were moved by the Blind Side, it's not about the music is ti about black and white. Visit the civil rights museum at the motel where Martin Luther King was murdered and think about how far we have come---and how far we have to go.
24 March 2010 2:25PM heynowtambourine Report this comment
If you visit St. Louis, don't forget to make a trip to the birthplace of one of the biggest brand names in the world - the Budweiser brewery.