Never Look Away and Cold War Worship Oscar’s Sacred Cows

Among this year’s Best Foreign Film Oscar nominees, Poland’s Cold War and Germany’s Never Look Away look a lot like Hollywood’s own politically woke claptrap.

Never Look Away is the one that most easily appeals to the predilections of American film culture. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s three-hour-plus epic is a virtual seminar in lingering European guilt. It’s full of stylishly grim World War II anecdotes about Fascist cruelty and family disintegration — all within a bio-pic that parallels the life and canvases of painter Gerhard Richter.