Every year, the Oscars spotlights films that the average film viewer has never heard of.
Whether it’s revealing Moonlight to the world through the most famous Oscar gaff of all time, or letting people learn about amazing films such as Anatomy of a Fall, the awards can be a great place to learn what you missed at the cinema, and what your next trip out should be.
In the case of one film at this year’s Oscars, you may not have heard of it but it is an absolutely heart-breaking watch.
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The film won Best International Feature, with this being the first ever win by the UK in this category.
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The winner was Zone of Interest, a British film about Auschwitz that has left audiences in tears and hearts broken.
Zone of Interest is based on a 2014 novel of the same name, and focuses on the true story of a Nazi commander and his wife trying to build a life for their family in a zone of interest next to Auschwitz.
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Rather than show any of the horrors of Auschwitz itself, the film lets the screams and anguish of the camp play in the background in a chillingly unsettling experience.
This led to numerous glowing reviews, with DiscussingFilm critic Jihane Bousfiha calling it an ‘unflinching masterpiece’ and Wendy Ide at The Guardian saying she ‘left [Zone of Interest] shaken and stricken; it stayed with me, stubbornly, over the months that followed.’
Nominated for five Oscars, the film took home Best Sound as well as winning the historic first International Oscar for the UK.
Director Jonathan Glazer has been praised for his acceptance speech, in which he called out both the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and Hamas’ October 7th attack on Israel. He said: “Our film shows where dehumanization leads, at it’s worst. It 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, or the victims of this dehumanization. How do we resist?”
The film is still out in select cinemas in the UK at the time of writing, with viewers still having the chance to experience this important and heart-breaking film on the big screen.
It is currently available for rental online on either Apple TV or Amazon Prime. Whilst it has not had a date announced yet in the UK for streaming, it is expected that it will be released on Amazon Prime later this year.
Michael Slavin