LIGHTS CAMERA, ALGORITHM

This year's Oscars, as usual, celebrated cinema. But the real drama has been playing out in boardrooms and server farms

- BY NAVIN J. ANTONY

One of the most pivotal scenes in All The President's Men unfolds in a dim underground parking space. Bob Woodward, a Washington Post reporter investigating the Watergate scandal, has come to meet his secret source-an influential FBI official known only as Deep Throat.

Woodward is frustrated, chasing leads he cannot yet weave into a coherent story.

In the shadows, where words must be whispered because truth can be dangerous, Woodward confesses his desperation. He asks for something more concrete, promising not to quote Deep Throat-even anonymously. "The story is dry," he says. The fragments he has are not enough.

Deep Throat offers two pieces of advice. First: stop assuming the White House is staffed by brilliant minds. "The truth is, these are not very bright guys," he says. "And things got out of hand." Then comes the line more famous than the film itself: "Follow the money." All The President's Men was released in 1976, less than two years after Richard Nixon resigned in the wake of the Post exposés. Directed by Alan J. Pakula from a William Goldman screenplay, it was a commercial and critical triumph-winning four Oscars and cementing its place as a landmark of the New Hollywood era. In the 50 years since, "follow the money" has become cultural shorthand for a guiding principle: to uncover truth, look beyond personalities and events and trace the movement of money itself. Where it comes from, and where it goes.

That principle might well have resonated with anyone watching the Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on March 15.

The ceremony, though celebratory, underscored grim realities.

"I am honoured to be the last human host of the Academy Awards," comedian Conan O'Brien quipped at the opening. "Next year, it's going to be Waymo in a tux." Waymo is the AI company that operates driverless taxis across parts of Los Angeles, including Hollywood. The joke landed because it tapped into something real.