Oscar for best foreign picture goes to “The Zone of Interest.”

The terrifying Holocaust thriller “The Zone of Interest,” which portrays the ordinary life of a Nazi family in their house next to the Auschwitz extermination camp and examines issues of culpability, took home the Academy Award for best foreign picture.

The film’s worst case scenario depicts dehumanization, according to writer-director Jonathan Glazer. “At this very moment, we stand here as guys who deny that they are Jewish and that the Holocaust was appropriated by an occupation that caused so much suffering for many innocent people. How can we oppose this humanization, whether it is with regard to the October 7th deaths in Israel or the current war on Gaza, all the victims?”

After pro-Palestinian protestors caused traffic jams near the Dolby Theater as the Oscars got underway, Glazer made a reference to Israel’s conflict in Gaza.

Jocelyn Noveck of The Associated Press said that Glazer “has found a way to convey the evil of Nazism without ever depicting the horror itself” in her review. However, the terror attacks our senses in more profound ways even when it is hidden from our sight.

Glazer said that he thinks the movie would highlight the problems that are going on in the globe now. Every decision we make is intended to reflect who we are right now. “Look what we do now, not ‘Look what they did then,'” he said.

One of the movie’s actors, Sandra Hüller, broke down in tears as Glazer gave his victory speech, shaking hands.

Hüller, who is up for a best actress nomination for “Anatomy of a Fall,” portrays Hedwig, the brutal Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss’s wife (Christian Friedel). The movie was the British entry for the Oscars.

The couple and their kids live in a house that is just a stone’s throw away from the gas chambers, and they go about their everyday lives in the movie. During the workday, Höss supervises the “processing” of train loads of individuals, the most of whom are taken straight to their deaths. After that, he returns home, where he and Hedwig plan vacations, eat together, celebrate birthdays, and read goodnight tales to their children.

Though Glazer decided to portray the actual commandant, the script was mostly inspired on the 2014 Martin Amis book of the same name. Striking a terrifying level of detail, the filmmaker assembled the history of the Höss family and constructed the set for their house around 200 yards (183 meters) away from the actual location.

“The Zone of Interest” is the front-runner in the foreign category since it is also vying for best picture. Five Academy Awards were nominated for the movie, including best director, sound, which went to Cord Jefferson for “American Fiction,” and adapted screenplay.

“All Quiet on the Western Front,” a World War I film in German, took up the prize last year.