If there was one 2022 movie that can be considered a major awards season disruptor, it probably has to be "All Quiet on the Western Front." After all, it was quietly released on Netflix after a premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, and screeners for the movie were not sent to critics' group members like they typically are. The fact that it has landed nominations at several major awards events, including a nod for Best Picture at the 2023 Academy Awards, was something nobody could have predicted.
In fact, its continuous string of awards season shocks has solidified "All Quiet on the Western Front" as the newest entry in an extremely prestigious list of Oscar nominees. The film received nine nominations in total for the 2023 Academy Awards ceremony, with two of them being Best International Feature Film and the aforementioned Best Picture. In the 95 years the ceremony has existed, only seven movies have been nominated for both categories, and only one has actually managed to win in each of them.
'The Oscars Are Not An International Film Festival. They're Very Local.'
The good news is that "All Quiet on the Western Front" is in fairly distinguished company in this regard. The first film to ever be nominated for both Best International Feature Film and Best Picture was the Algerian film "Z" from 1969, which provided a dramatized account of the assassination of Greek politician Grigoris Lambrakis. It took another 29 years for another non-English-language film to be cross-nominated with the Italian Holocaust dramedy "Life is Beautiful."
Thankfully, it didn't take nearly as long for another entry to make this list. Ang Lee's seminal wuxia film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" would do exactly that just a few years later, although it took more than a decade for another film, Michael Haneke's "Amour," to follow suit. The last two entries in this club prior to "Western Front" arrived back-to-back. "Roma" received both nominations during the 92nd Academy Awards ceremony, while "Parasite" broke the nomination-only curse and won both awards the following year. Arguably, the latter movie's victory was the best thing to happen to us right before the pandemic came a-knocking. (It was also "Parasite" director Bong Joon-ho who famously said, "The Oscars are not an international film festival. They're very local," prior to the film's victory.)
It's not exactly clear if "All Quiet on the Western Front" will be able to win either or even both awards at the upcoming 95th Academy Awards. However, what is clear is that it serves as a devastating reminder for the ceremony. The chances of it nominating any non-English-language movies for the top prize are slim, despite it claiming to be an awards show for movies of all origins.
Read this next: The 30 Greatest War Films Of All Time, Ranked
The post With The 2023 Oscars, Netflix's All Quiet On The Western Front Just Joined A Prestigious Club appeared first on /Film.