From the red carpet to acceptance speeches onstage, politics found its way into this year’s Academy Awards
A montage that opened the Oscars telecast Sunday featured a line spoken by Jerrod Carmichael in the movie “Poor Things” — “Do you want to see what the world is really like?”
Onstage at the ceremony, however, few speeches from winners during the first hours of the 96th Academy Awards made reference to world events, even at a time when Russia’s war with Ukraine and Israel’s attacks on Gaza continue to make headlines.
But some did, providing the evening with some of its most dramatic and emotional moments. The winner of the international feature award was “The Zone of Interest,” written and directed by Jonathan Glazer, adapted from the novel by Martin Amis. The film focuses on the family life of Rudolf Höss, commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II.
Glazer took the stage with producers James Wilson and Len Blavatnik to a standing ovation, putting his head down to read his speech with an anxious determination, saying: “All our choices were made to reflect and confront us in the present, not to say ‘Look what they did then,’ rather, ‘Look what we do now.’
“Our film shows where dehumanization leads at its worst. It’s shaped all of our past and present. Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people, whether the victims of October the 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza. All the victims of this dehumanization — how do we resist?”
Glazer’s remarks were met by applause in the room.
