There are three certainties: Saving Private Ryan, The Truman Show and Shakespeare in Love. If Roberto Benigni's La Vita e Bella is nominated here as well as for best foreign-language film, it will be the first film to be nominated in both categories in the same year since Z in 1969. Although only one foreign-language film has been nominated for best picture in the past 25 years (Il Postino in 1995), there is a second, strong non-English candidate this year in the Brazilian Central Station.
The other major contenders for best picture must include The Thin Red Line and Elizabeth, and then there's a raft of long-shots - The General, Gods and Monsters, Affliction, Out of Sight, Happiness, A Simple Plan and (perish the thought) Waking Ned Devine.
Prediction: Saving Private Ryan, The Truman Show, Shakespeare in Love, La Vita E Bella, Elizabeth