Jonathan Glazer Denounced for Oscar Acceptance Speech

Jonathan Glazer, director of "The Zone of Interest," at BFI's London Film Festival last October. Photo from Ralph_PH via Flickr

Jonathan Glazer’s 2023 film “The Zone of Interest” isn’t just an examination of the banality of evil — it is also an examination of the complicity with evil. 

“I was determined to make it not about then, but about now,” Glazer told Rolling Stone. “Because this movie isn’t a document. It’s not a history lesson. It’s a warning.”

The film puts the audience directly within the lives of Rudolf Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp, and his family. However, Glazer didn’t want to make a film that was repetitive of films about the Holocaust beforehand. Glazer, who is Jewish, felt compelled to make the film, as it was something always present in his life.

 “I really wish I could let it rot, but… it’s not in the past,” he told The Guardian. 

Glazer spent ten years crafting the film — it led to working with the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Memorial and the ability to shoot on location with permission from the museum's trustees. 

Glazer’s newest film propelled him into the spotlight, where many could notice his unique filmography. Spanning only three films before “The Zone of Interest,” Glazer hasn’t made one film that is similar to the others, as they span genres and tones, with 2000’s hilarious, tense heist thriller “Sexy Beast,” 2004’s enigmatic psychological drama “Birth” and 2013’s terrifyingly beautiful sci-fi film “Under the Skin.”

“The Zone of Interest” has received universal critical acclaim, winning the Grand Prix at 2023’s Cannes Film Festival and BAFTA’s Outstanding British Film. Therefore, its nomination for Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards was expected, as well as its win for Best International Feature Film. Many attendees of the ceremony, including Mark Ruffalo, Swan Arlaud and Billie Eilish, wore pins in support of Palestine, and Glazer’s acceptance speech was the only one of the night to discuss the ongoing Israel-Hamas War. 

Glazer took to the stage accepting the award and took out his speech, thanking collaborators on the project, before stating the following.

“All our choices are made to reflect and confront us in the present. Not to say, ‘look what they did then,’ rather ‘look what we do now.’ Our film shows where dehumanization leads at its 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 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza, all the victims of this dehumanization — how do we resist?” 

After the ceremony, the official Oscars YouTube channel uploaded all the speeches and moments of the night. All were included except Jonathan Glazer’s speech, which has still not been uploaded weeks later. 

Glazer’s speech was met with criticism and support by the crowd; however, the following weeks brought denouncement against Glazer. On March 18, an open letter was published denouncing Glazer, with over 450 signatures from Jewish filmmakers, actors, producers and executives in the industry. In the following days, it rose to over a thousand individuals signing the letter.

“We are Jewish creatives, executives and Hollywood professionals. We refute our Jewishness being hijacked for the purpose of drawing a moral equivalence between a Nazi regime that sought to exterminate a race of people, and an Israeli nation that seeks to avert its own extermination,” reads the opening statement of the letter.

The letter goes on to affirm that “Israel is not targeting civilians. It is targeting Hamas.” It criticizes Glazer's use of the word “occupation,” as it “distorts history,” and those who signed it believe that Glazer’s words give “credence to the modern blood libel that fuels a growing anti-Jewish hatred around the world.” 

Glazer’s words have been misquoted heavily, especially for him saying the phrase “refute their Jewishness.” Many individuals have taken Glazer’s words without the rest of the statement, insinuating that he was renouncing his Jewish heritage. 

With these misquotations, Glazer has come under fire, and so too has “The Zone of Interest.” The film has now been criticized for not seeing Jewish people in the film. This was pointed out by conservative commentator Ben Shapiro  and in an opinion piece for CNN by Peter Rutland, a professor at Wesleyan University. However, this point is completely incorrect, as Jewish characters are featured in the film several times. 

Although the victims of Auschwitz aren’t the main characters of the film, the meaning of the movie itself is about the power of not seeing, but rather, about what is heard and what you know is happening. Therefore, many of the criticisms surrounding the film have involved individuals either completely analyzing it incorrectly or being unable to understand it. 

Individuals within the film industry have come to defend Glazer’s speech, such as actor Mark Ruffalo and screenwriter Tony Kushner, who believed that what “…[Glazer]’s saying is so simple. He’s saying: Jewishness, Jewish identity, Jewish history, the history of the Holocaust, the history of Jewish suffering must not be used in a campaign of — as an excuse for a project of dehumanizing or slaughtering other people.”

The Auschwitz Museum’s memorial director, Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński, posted a message on X supporting Glazer, saying “...Critics who expected a clear political stance or a film solely about 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." 

Glazer has not made any comments regarding the controversy since his acceptance speech.