(This story is part of a series evaluating the chances of all nine best picture nominees.) - - - From "The Hurt Locker" to "Platoon" to "Lawrence of Arabia," war movies have a history of winning best picture (along with a glut of other awards) at the Oscars. That bodes pretty well for "1917," the World War I epic directed by previous Oscar winner Sam Mendes and shot by cinematographer Roger Deakins, who is widely considered to be the best in the business. The two made the movie appear as i

Maria Ryabtseva was just a baby when the 1917 October Revolution broke out. Since then the former nurse has lived through extraordinary events from the USSR’s birth and death to the dominance of President Vladimir Putin.