Historical themes past and near present dominate Oscars nominations

History came alive at this year's Oscars in an unusually rich year for movies that plumb the distant and recent past and have resonated with audiences and voters.

Four of the nine best picture nominees at Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony - Iran hostage drama Argo, Osama bin Laden thriller Zero Dark Thirty, slavery revenge fantasy Django Unchained and US presidential drama Lincoln - are the most discussed films of the awards season, with their very different takes on historical events.

"It's an interesting year for thought-provoking movies that have a semblance of reality. Some look to where we come from and where we are going, and they get people thinking," said Pete Hammond, awards columnist for entertainment industry website Deadline.com

It's a sharp contrast with 2012 when the silent film comedy The Artist was embraced by the 6,000 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a love letter to old Hollywood. This time, terrorism, slavery, war, politics and the CIA take centre stage in films that try to make sense of calamitous times.

Lincoln, Steven Spielberg's account of President Abraham Lincoln's drive to persuade a divided Congress to abolish slavery in 1865, has spoken loudly to present-day Americans faced with daily evidence of political deadlock in Washington.

Not so comforting is Django Unchained, director Quentin Tarantino's blood-soaked but audacious take on 19th century slavery, filmed in darkly humorous spaghetti western style. Spike Lee, the respected black filmmaker, called Django disrespectful to his ancestors and vowed not to see it.

All four films have been accused of taking liberties with historical accuracy. But pop culture expert Robert Thompson said movies shouldn't be judged like journalism or history books. "The great thing about art is that it turns data into a valuable experience," he said. "We want art to be working on this material."