The last and only time a silent movie won the best picture Oscar at the Academy Awards was in 1927 for the movie “Wings.”

Now, nearly 85 years later, “The Artist” has resurrected hope for the silent movie genre to see fame and glory once again.

“The Artist” focuses on the heyday of Hollywood between 1927 and 1932 and the character of George Valentin, played by French actor Jean Dujardin.

George Valentin is the silent cinema’s greatest star, but as Hollywood starts to shift to the “talkies,” he finds himself growing out of fashion and into obscurity.

George, through a chance encounter, forms a relationship with a young, bright-eyed aspiring actress named Peppy Miller, played by French actress Berenice Bejo. But as Peppy is molded into the sound film industry’s brightest star, tension grows between the two characters.

Instead of being slow, boring or hard to understand, as some people might expect of silent films, “The Artist” utilizes the score to propel the story and inject life and color into the black and white film.

The film’s director Michel Hazanavicius has said he believes silent films are intriguing because of their image-driven nature. “The Artist” proves just that, showing how happiness, heartbreak and pain can be expressed without a single word.

The most captivating parts of the movie are the interactions between George and Peppy. A relationship that started out as a young actress admiring a wiser, grander actor blossoms into a relationship of mutual survival. George falls into a deep depression after losing his movie deal. Peppy, instead of looking forward and ignoring the past, comes to his aid as a friend and confidant. Both actors do an amazing job at portraying the struggles they are facing , which stem from an era of change.

Although “The Artist” is almost fully silent, sound is used by Hazanavicius in the jubilant ending. George and Peppy shoot a tap dance, and at the end, George is asked to perform it again, to which he replies “With pleasure.” At first, the use of sound at the end seemed a little bit like cheating in the silent film, but the transition to sound mirrored the transition the characters had throughout the film.

“The Artist” deserves the best picture award at this year’s Academy Awards because it was the most daring film in a year full of remakes, sequels and talking animal movies. The film is charming and energetic, captivating the audience from beginning to end. For a generation that has quite possibly never seen a silent movie, old becomes new and simple becomes inventive through “The Artist.”