Best Picture Nominees: The Zone of Interest

 


On January 23, the Academy Award Nominations were announced. A total of ten films will be competing for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, which take place on Sunday, March 10. From now until then, I will be looking at each of the Best Picture Nominees.

The Zone of Interest
Starring: Sandra Huller and Christian Friedel
Director: Jonathan Glazer
Total Nominations: 5
Nominated For: Best Picture, Best Director (Glazer), Best Adapted Screenplay (Glazer), Best International Feature, Best Sound
About: This is the second International Feature to make the Best Picture field, and the second starring Huller. She earned an individual nomination for Anatomy of a Fall, but she's quite good here, too. This film is about the Commander of Auschwitz and his family living a normal, pleasant life just outside the gates of the camp. You can hear the horror on the periphery. You can sometimes see the horror. But this is sort of a family drama. That's what makes it unique, striking, and polarizing. It won't work for everyone. And yet, it's incredibly powerful. While I think it's a long-shot for Best Picture, I do think this is a film that will go home with a trophy. I think it's the front-runner for Best International Feature, and likely will be the film that takes that award home. Another interesting category is sound. The mixing here is what adds the unsettling horror to this film. I think that makes it an interesting choice to take home the sound award. In fact, I think it should be among the front-runners. At the end of the day, I think The Zone of Interest will take home at least one award at the Oscars.

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