However, Israel was not the only snubbed contender. Looking at the entire history of Oscar awards, the three leading countries in the number of both nominees and ultimate winners — Italy, France and Spain — were all eliminated this time around.
Yet, oddly enough, if the themes chosen by a country’s filmmakers reflect in some ways the interests of their movie-going publics, the world’s fascination with the Holocaust, the Second World War and their aftermaths has never been higher.
Eight countries have this year submitted films which deal directly or indirectly with the fate of Europe’s Jews during their darkest period — a list that comprises Austria, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Switzerland.
None of these countries’ films made the short list, but of particular interest is Russia’s Sobibor, centring on the 1943 uprising in the notorious concentration camp, and Romania’s oddly-named I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians, which focuses on the massacre of Odessa’s Jews by the Romanian army.
The list of nine semi-finalists will be winnowed down to five on January 22,and the winner will clutch the golden statuette at the 91st Oscar telecast on February 24.
