Jews who scalp Nazis, an older Jewish man who seduces a non-Jewish schoolgirl and a Jewish family in the suburbs have earned three out of 10 best-picture nominations for the 82nd annual Academy Awards.
“Ajami” became the third Israeli entry in consecutive years to make the final cut of five nominees as top foreign-language movies. Fervent prayers are being heard throughout the Israeli film colony that Israel will finally walk off with the Oscar itself.
The tense picture about Arab and Jewish conflicts in a mixed quarter of Jaffa was created by the Arab-Jewish writing, directing and editing team of Scanda Copti and Yaron Shani.
“Inglourious Basterds, “the ultimate Jewish revenge fantasy, in which a squad of Jewish GIs wipes out the entire Nazi leadership, won nominations for best picture, directing and writing for Quentin Tarantino, best supporting actor for Christoph Waltz and best cinematography for Robert Richardson.
The two other Jewish-themed films up for best picture have won high critical acclaim for their artistry, but also a few lemons for perceived gratuitous anti-Semitism in, the British “An Education” and for “A Serious Man.” The latter was also awarded a writing nomination for brothers Joel and Ethan Coen.
Jason Reitman, who is Jewish, received a directing nomination for the popular hit “Up in the Air.”
Although not explicitly Jewish, another foreign-language nomination went to the German entry, Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon.” The story revolves around a seemingly placid German village in 1914, but whose rigid class structure and authoritarianism holds the seed of the Nazi era to come.
The 82nd annual Academy Awards will air on ABC on Sunday, March 7, 5 p.m. PST.
