The Oscars 2024 have ended, and the ‘Best’ has triumphed. The Academy podium not only gives the winner a chance to engrave the epic moment in their lives while receiving the trophy but also gives them a stage to express their emotions. Every winner has a unique style of sharing their gratitude. This time, Oscar winner Jonathan Glazer garnered everyone’s attention with his winning speech. While it was praised by many, some audiences have criticized Glazer’s opinion.
At the 96th Academy Award, Glazer’s directed film “The Zone of Interest” received five nominations, out of which it won two awards, including Best International Feature and Best Sound. When Glazer came to the podium to receive the award, he addressed the current conflict in Gaza. While talking about his Holocaust drama, he drew a parallel between “Zone of Interest” and the violent conflict in Gaza. His statement was initially difficult for the audience to decipher and later ignited a debate.
What is the debate all about?
According to the Academy’s official transcript of the speech, Jonathan Glazer said,
“All our choices were made to reflect and confront us in the present, not to say look what they did then, but 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 — 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?”
After picking the controversial during his winning speech, Glazer didn’t really bother to clarify the point he made in the speech and escaped the backstage pressroom. Glazer may have avoided commenting on his statement, but this hasn’t people from projecting their views.
Many appreciated Glazer for his bold statement. Asif Kapadia, who won the 2015 Best Feature Documentary Oscar for Amy, said,
“He used his power and position and the biggest global stage to speak up for people with no power, no voice, or those too afraid to speak up, in an industry which is very conservative and risk adverse and which has a long history of blacklisting people. He stood up and told the truth. This is what true artists do.”
Filmmaker Jesse Peretz, known for helming projects like “Our Idiot Brother” and the HBO series “Girls,” echoed Kapadia’s statement as he said,
“I think this is a case where nuanced language is unfortunately a dangerous thing to try to employ, because our intense emotions can make us want to bend the meaning behind words that make us uncomfortable — so that it becomes easier to reject them.”
While the aforementioned statements came in Glazer’s support, some slammed his speech. For instance, Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt took to his social media and wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter:
“It’s truly disheartening to see someone minimize the Holocaust literally as they are accepting an award for a film they made … about the Holocaust. Glazer talks about understanding where dehumanization can lead, yet is blind to the fact that it’s Hamas’ dehumanization of Jews & Israelis that led to the current war. Let me be clear: Israel is not hijacking anyone’s Jewishness. It’s defending every Jew’s right to exist.”
Others, like columnist Ben Shapiro, seemed to comment on the film without having actually watched it. He said
“In Jonathan Glazer’s ‘Zone of Interest,’ you don’t see one Jew. Those are the best Jews, according to Glazer: the faceless victims screaming in the distance. Ironically, he’s the villain: picking up awards from the bodies of those anonymous dead Jews while ignoring the living ones getting slaughtered in the Gaza Envelope by genocidal murderers.’” (There are several Jewish characters depicted in “The Zone of Interest.”)
The Israel terror attack of October 7 has a seemingly distinctive impact on Hollywood. Glazer’s speech and the reaction to it received from the audience present at the Academy ceremony highlights the growing divide in Hollywood. When Glazer ended his speech, it was met with a mixed reaction. While Mark Ruffalo could be seen applauding enthusiastically in the front row of the Dolby Theatre, others sported a stoic exterior, like Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who had just won the Oscar for her supporting role in “The Holdovers.”
