Craig Detweiler walks us through the 10 films nominated for Best Picture from 2009 and explores how they are built upon the foundations of drama—characters, stakes, and story arcs — and how you may catch a glimpse of Eden.

CHARACTERS: The most memorable films revolve around fascinating characters. The Hurt Locker rises above all other movies about Iraq because of its focus on the soldiers. It takes us inside the experience of an Army bomb squad, especially Staff Sergeant William James. We walk a nail-biting mile in his shoes. How haunting to be drawn into the volatile battlefield of Precious. We come to understand why she is so withdrawn. Her circumstances would easily crush our spirits, too. The Blind Side revolves around a gentle giant, Michael Oher, and the suburban Mom who opens up her home. As Lee Anne Tuohy, Sandra Bullock storms through public housing and Memphis country clubs like a force of nature, fighting for Michael. He finds a safe place he desperately needs.

Sometimes, a safe place can hinder our growth. An Education demonstrates how too much comfort can numb us. As a smart teenager, Jenny is so eager to escape her mundane home and school surroundings that she falls for the alluring David. Mystery is preferable to rote certainty. In Pixar’s entrancing animated film Up, a thick crust has formed around Carl Fredricksen. The loss of his beloved Ellie has crushed his ambition and dreams. Until an eager explorer scout, Russell, knocks on his door. Of course, Pixar also makes us love Dug, a talking dog and Kevin, the faithful mama bird.

Only Inglourious Basterds offered more colorful characters. Brad Pitt ramps up his Southern accent as Lt. Aldo Raine. The rage pouring from Sgt. Donny Donowitz is channeled into his baseball bat. The cool reserve of Shosanna Dreyfus and Bridget von Hammersmark covers up a furious deserve for revenge. Cruel Nazi Colonel Hans Landa remains the most memorable screen character of 2009. No one else holds the screen with more menacing force. These vivid characters embody the edges of human experience.

When screenwriters create powerful characters, they also generate star-making vehicles. Relative newcomers like Carey Mulligan (An Education), Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) and Gabby Sidibe (Precious) have been swept onto the red carpet. Supporting players like Christopher Waltz as Hans Landa and Monique as Precious’s mother were also thrust into the spotlight. The strong female roles offered to Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side and Vera Fermiga and Anna Kendrick in Up in the Air cut through the usual Hollywood clutter. For Oscar voters, characters still matter.

STAKES: Enduring stories involve high stakes and riveting risks. In A Serious Man, professor Larry Gropnik endures the sufferings of Job. Life as he knows it is unraveling. And his problems are much larger than questions of tenure. A tornado builds in the background of all our lives. Precious must navigate deadly circumstances. The film is almost a theater of cruelty, from one horrible test to another for the teen mother. Her situation makes the homeless, fatherless life of Michael Oher seem almost simple. Will Michael rise above a rough upbringing to guard others’ Blind Side? The open arms of the Tuohy family pave his path to the NFL. Up in the Air offers the most prescient take on our economic circumstances. Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) holds disproportionate power over desperate employees—the ability to fire them. Yet, he manages to distance himself from his HR job. His feelings are far removed from the intense realities he encounters in terminating workers.

The Hurt Locker spells out its stakes in stark terms. Sanborn describes their job to Will, “You realize every time you suit up, every time we go out, it’s life or death. You roll the dice, and you deal with it. You recognize that don’t you?” Will James assesses his assignment, “There’s enough bang in there to blow us all to Jesus. If I’m gonna die, I want to die comfortable.” In Up, Carl has to leave his comfort to truly live. Carl and Russell are literally dangling from a string, balloons popping as his house travels to Paradise Falls.

Avatar revolves around nothing less than the destruction of a civilization. The attack on the Na’vi’s sacred tree echoes the collapse of the World Trade Center. Will resolute survivors rebuild? District 9 suggests how deep our self-destructive prejudices may reside. Must we always find an ‘other’ to blame for our problems? Inglourious Basterds wades into genocide, rewriting a horrific history. It is the ultimate revenge film—the Jews take out Hitler—only at or in the movies. Will we rally together to resist injustice before we perish from our foolishness? In the finest films of 2009, the survival of civilization depends upon it.

STORY ARCS: Classic movies take audiences on a ride. We get invested in the characters, their dilemmas, and root for them to overcome obstacles. They must shore up their weaknesses and recognize their blind spots. In my book, Into the Dark, I studied the top rated films of the 21st century according to Internet Movie Database users. Amidst mind-bending films like Memento and Eternal Sunshine, I found common themes of dislocation. We seem to have forgotten who we are and whose we are. We are cut off from ourselves, isolated amidst rapid social change. I traced the themes from the top films back to the garden of Eden, where God asked Adam a simple question, “Why are you hiding?” We must our tendency to withdraw.

The most important movies of 2009 involve characters who are also hiding. The bomb squad in The Hurt Locker has ample reasons to cover up. There is far too much shrapnel exploding around them. In Avatar, a paraplegic soldier has nothing to lose from taking on a new identity, descending into a giant blue body. It is an improvement over his trying circumstances. District 9 tries to keep aliens at bay. But sequestering them will not work. We are all inextricably intertwined.

In Inglourious Basterds, frightened family shudder under floorboards, hiding from the Nazis. Like Precious, they may run to a fantasy version of their lives to retain a sense of hope. In An Education, Jenny refuses to see how David pays for their weekend forays. She’s blinded by style. Up in the Air’s Ryan Bingham allows the soothing sounds of the airport to insulate him from serious relationships. He aims to keep his backpack empty. Will he end up like Pixar’s Carl, locked in his own private universe, refusing to recognize the world around him?

These characters need to come out of hiding, to join the human race, to live in community. Avatar and District 9 are about our interconnection to each other and our surroundings. The Hurt Locker shows how radically dependent we are upon each other. When one person suffers, we all suffer. How do we carry on? With the legacy of family expressed by Sgt. J.T. Sanborn, “I want a son. I want a little boy, Will.”

Our birth families may not always provide safety and comfort. A Serious Man like Larry Gropnik discovers there are no guarantees, even in the suburbs. We may be abused like Precious or abandoned like Michael Oher. We need people like the Tuohys to intervene, to adopt us. We may have to find alternative families like Carl and Russell, an unlikely but dynamic duo. In Avatar, Jake Sully changes teams, throwing his allegiance toward Neytiri and the Na’vi. Is that a betrayal of his roots or the evolution of his character? The story arcs in the best films take us out of hiding, making us more human.

We retain our compassion and humanity under circumstances that test our convictions. Despite our efforts to remain isolated islands, we’re still called to community. The finest films of 2009 echo the second question God poses in Genesis. Elohim asks Cain, “Where is your brother? As a murderer, Cain attempts to reframe the question, dodging responsibility with another question: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The answer found in the Bible and in these haunting films is “Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes.” We are all Precious in God’s sight.

Craig has written about film in The New York Times, and appeared on CNN and NPR. He currently teaches film at Pepperdine University and works as a liaison between the university and the entertainment industry. This review first appeared on Craig’s blog and is republished here with his permission.