One for the peacemakers

UNITED STATES: One of the strongest voices that emerged from the telecast of the Oscars this year was that of Jonathan Glazer, the director of the British film The Zone of Interest, which bagged the honour for Best Foreign film. In his acceptance speech, the filmmaker, whose feature is set in Auschwitz during World War II, spoke about the dangers of dehumanisation at its worst. Referring to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, Glazer said, “All our choices were made to reflect, and confront us in the present; not to say ‘look what they did then, rather look at what we did now’.”

Glazer’s remarks are emblematic of a year when reports of gross human rights violations are taking place the world over. Several attendees were spotted wearing lapel pins of the collective Artists4Ceasefire, which seeks an immediate end to hostilities in the Middle East. Best Actor Cillian Murphy said we were living in Oppenheimer’s world, and dedicated his prize to the peacemakers. Meanwhile, embattled Ukraine won its first Oscar, bagging Best Documentary for 20 Days in Mariupol. The film chronicles a group of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol as they struggle to document war crimes. The director of the film reminded the audience he was probably the only filmmaker in the august gathering who wished he hadn’t made his film. The Ukrainian feature had upstaged India’s To Kill a Tiger, directed by Indo-Canadian filmmaker Nisha Pahuja. The latter was centred around a farmer who hopes to bring the rapists of his daughter to justice.

The ceremony was also the epicentre of a decade-spanning snub. About 51 years ago, Marlon Brando declined the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Godfather. He had actress and Native American activist Sacheen Littlefeather representing him at the ceremony as Brando was protesting Hollywood’s portrayal of Native Americans in film. This year, director Martin Scorsese attempted to right some wrongs with his masterful portrait of the Osage murders in his film Killers of the Flower Moon. It was buoyed by a luminous performance from Lily Gladstone, who deserved the proud distinction of being the first Indigenous woman to be nominated for Best Actress in 94 years of Oscar history. She was tipped to win by most accounts. But as the high corridors of tinsel-town would have it, the film returned empty-handed.

Politics aside, there were aspersions cast on the future of creative arts across the board, thanks to the juggernaut of artificial intelligence-induced advancements over the past one year. An iconic moment transpired early on when the host, talk show host Jimmy Kimmel called attention to the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, which lasted 148 days and secured significant guardrails against the use of AI in the motion picture industry – essentially insuring actors against being replaced by AI. But, the creative forces behind three films that flew under the radar this year would not have worried as much. Past Lives (nominated for Best Screenplay and Picture), All of us Strangers (UK, zero nominations), and Monster (Japan, no nominations) happened to be three sublimely humane features that could never have been conceived or replicated by a machine. And they are best experienced outside the judgment of Hollywood.