Opinion A tale of two Oscars — and two wars

The tensions – between conscience and commerce, art and money — at the Academy Awards underscore the questions that film industries must address

Director Jonathan Glazer accepts the award for Best International Feature Film for The Zone of Interest, during the 96th Academy Awards in Hollywood. (Reuters)

Vidhatri Rao

March 17, 2024 04:01 PM IST First published on: Mar 17, 2024 at 04:00 PM IST

The 2003 Oscars were held on March 23, three days after the US invaded Iraq. In that moment of global reckoning about America’s use of military force and the destruction that would invariably follow, there were mild alterations to the biggest event in showbiz: The red carpet was removed and guests were asked to not wear “bright” colours.

Some, like Japanese animation auteur Hayao Miyazaki, who won his first Oscar for Spirited Away that night, skipped the event to register their protest. But when a categorical statement condemning the invasion came, the Oscars did not know how to deal with it. On stage to accept his award for Best Documentary Feature for Bowling for Columbine, filmmaker Michael Moore said: “Shame on you, Mr Bush!” He was joined by other documentary nominees who said they were against the war. The response: loud boos, with the producer of the show cueing the music to get them off stage.

Flash forward to the 2024 Oscars, haunted by the shadow of another “war”.

Receiving his award for the Best International Feature for The Zone of Interest, a film on Rudolf Höss, commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, director Jonathan 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 what we do now.’

Also read | Whether Auschwitz or Gaza, this Oscar-winning film holds us all to account

He added: “Our film shows where dehumanisation leads, at its worst…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 dehumanisation, how do we resist?”

This year’s ceremony also saw a mention of the continuing war in Ukraine, when 20 Days in Mariupol, a story of Ukrainian journalists, won the Best Documentary Feature award. Director Mstyslav Chernov said: “We can make sure that the history record is set straight and that the truth will prevail and that the people of Mariupol and the people who have given their lives will never be forgotten…Because cinema forms memories and memories form history.”

In another crucial moment on stage, members of the Osage nation, a native American tribe, performed ‘Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)’, which was nominated for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture. The song was featured in The Killers of the Flower Moon, Martin Scorcese’s searing film on one of the darkest chapters of American history: The plunder and loot of the Osage nation by white settlers.

The 2024 Oscars also saw a bit involving John Cena who appeared on stage naked to announce the Best Costume Design award. There was the delightful I am Just Ken performance by actor Ryan Gosling, who was in an all-pink outfit, referencing the iconic Marilyn Monroe image from Gentlemen Prefers Blondes (1953). Jokes were made about the Barbie-Oppenheimer box-office rivalry. Messi the dog, who played a pivotal part in Anatomy of a Fall (which got the Best Screenplay award that night), was in the audience.

It was a night of sombre reflections, punctuated by comedy and glamour that has characterised the event over the years.

The Academy of Motion Pictures of Arts and Sciences, which hands out the Oscars each year, has been put to scrutiny between 2003 and 2024. Campaigns such as #OscarsSoWhite, the #WhiteWashedOUT, called out Hollywood for its lack of representation. The Time’s Up movement demanded justice for sexual harassment in the industry and 2017’s Me Too movement had shaken the foundations of Hollywood’s top leadership. The Academy has since tried to evolve. In 2020, Bong Joon-Ho’s scathing South Korean drama on class and capitalism, Parasite, won Best Picture, the first non-English film to ever win the award. Indian film RRR ended up taking home the award for Best Song in an Original Motion Picture last year, while The Elephant Whisperers, a documentary on a couple who foster elephants, won the Best Documentary award.

As film industries around the world tread on, amidst the slew of questions and conversations surrounding AI, shrinking attention spans, climate change and the importance of political action, this year’s Oscars captured the tension arising from the pressing questions about art today, questions which need to be looked at, analysed, contextualised within the cinematic medium.

Some might argue there is no joy in a landscape dotted with questions like this; others might say this is precisely where films come in, which, in their 128-year history, have been able to play a role in bleak times.

Christopher Nolan, who won his first Oscar this year for Oppenheimer, about J Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, summed up the exact juncture that films are in at the moment.

“To the Academy — movies are just a little bit over 100 years old…We don’t know where this incredible journey is going from here. But to know that you think I’m a meaningful part of it means the world to me.”

How do films go from here? Is there more reckoning to come, politically and culturally? And how will the most popular artistic medium evolve to address these conversations? Will there be freedom to do so? Will the business of films outweigh the art of it? Can there be a balance?

vidhatri.rao@expressindia.com