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The 2024 Oscars were largely devoid of shocking moments. Nobody got slapped. The right films got their awards. The streak was false.
But buried beneath more than three hours of Hollywood fanfare was a brief victory speech that, over the past two weeks, has proven to be a spark that turned into a raging flame.
In accepting his Oscar for the Holocaust-themed “Zero Zone,” director Jonathan Glazer, who is Jewish, made comments sympathetic to the plight of Palestinians in Gaza. The region is mired in deadly conflict after an attack last October by Hamas militants killed more than 1,200 Israelis, while subsequent military attacks by Israeli forces have so far killed more than 30,000.
Glazer is best known for his films “Birth” (with Nicole Kidman) and “Under the Skin” (starring Scarlett Johansson). His expression of solidarity with the Palestinians drew applause at the event.
Since then, however, the comments have drawn a harsh rebuke from the Anti-Defamation League and an open letter condemning the speech from 1,000 Jewish Hollywood executives, producers, directors and stars. More recently, messages of support for Glazer have come from other actors and filmmakers, as well as from the director of the Auschwitz Memorial.
This is how the situation developed:
What did Jonathan Glazer say in his Oscar acceptance speech?
When “House Zone” won the Oscar for best international film, Glazer took the Dolby Theater stage and began reading a prepared speech. He earned loud applause during his acceptance speech, which began with Glazer thanking the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum “for its trust and guidance.” He then went on to comment on the war in Gaza, saying that there are victims on both sides of the conflict.
With this film, “all of our decisions were made to reflect and confront ourselves in the present, not to say ‘look what they did then,’ but ‘look what we do now,'” Glazer said onstage. “Our film shows where dehumanization leads to the worst. It has shaped our entire past and present.”
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“Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Judaism and the Holocaust held hostage by an occupation that has driven so many innocent people into conflict,” he said. “Whether it is the victims of October 7 in Israel or the current attack on Gaza, all the victims of this dehumanization, how do we resist?”
What did Jonathan Glazer’s letter say?
The day after the Oscars, the Anti-Defamation League called Glazer’s comments “morally reprehensible,” while “Hot Zone” executive producer Danny Cohen said: “fundamentally disagreed” with the director.
About a week later, more than 1,000 Jewish executives and Hollywood professionals signed an open letter harshly criticizing Glazer’s speech. Echoing his phrase, they wrote: “We reject that our Judaism is hijacked for the purpose of establishing a moral equivalence between a Nazi regime that sought to exterminate a race of people and an Israeli nation that seeks to prevent its own extermination.”
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The war in Gaza has polarized many people around the world, with protests and counter-protests ongoing in major US cities and on many college campuses. Some staunchly support Israel’s action after the attack, saying the response defends Israel’s right to exist as a nation. Those who have diametrically opposed opinions say Israel’s repressive policies towards the Palestinians living in Gaza for decades have led to the moment of boiling point and that the The current military action is excessive.
Who has defended Jonathan Glazer amid the backlash?
In the days following the open letter denouncing Glazer, the British director received support on social media from actors such as Marcos Ruffalo, Zoe Kazan and Melissa Barrera. Barrera was fired from “Scream VII” last fall after a series of pro-Palestinian posts.
The director of the Auschwitz Memorial, Dr. Piotr MA Cywiński, also defended Glazer in a statement on X (formerly known as Twitter).
“In his Oscar acceptance speech, Jonathan Glazer issued a universal moral warning against dehumanization,” Cywiński wrote. “His goal was not to descend to the level of political discourse. Critics expecting a clear political stance or a film solely about the genocide did not grasp the depth of his message. ‘The Zone of Interest’ is not a film about the Shoah. It is primarily a profound warning about humanity and its nature.”
What is the movie ‘The Zone of Interest’ about?
Loosely adapted from Martin Amis’ 2014 novel, “Zone” follows the daily lives of a Nazi officer (Christian Friedel), his wife (Sandra Hüller) and their children.
The chilling film takes place just outside the walls of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, although Glazer makes a conscious decision never to depict the violence or suffering of the Jewish people. Rather, the audience hears distant screams and gunshots coming from inside the camp, while the family eats dinner, plays in the pool, and tends to their garden.
Glazer “wasn’t interested in sensationalizing these atrocities,” Johnnie Burn, the film’s Oscar-winning sound designer, told USA TODAY late last year. “It is essential that everyone has their own understanding of what happened there. These mental images that we all have are quite easy to reproduce through the suggestion of sound.”