Parasite makes Oscar history

South Korean satire on class divides wins Academy Award for best film

Los Angeles, Feb.

10: Parasite, a stinging satire on class divides in South Korea, jumped the “one inch long subtitle barrier” to land on the Oscar stage — and in record books — as the first non-English film to win an Academy Award for best picture.

Coloured in various shades of black, Bong Joon Ho’s wicked comedy that found resonance the world over also won the best director Oscar as well as the awards for original screenplay and best international feature. While the big wins for Parasite, the first South Korean film at the Oscars, came as a surprise for many, given the Academy Awards’ 92year history of favouring English cinema, the awards in the acting categories were along expected lines.

Joaquin Phoenix won best actor for Joker and Renee Zellweger bagged best actress for Judy. Brad Pitt and Laura Dern won the supporting gongs for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

and Marriage Story.

“Four times... It’s crazy. It’s an unbelievable night. It’s such a great honour. I feel like I’ll wake up to find this all a dream,” Bong, who famously spoke on foreign language films overcoming the “one inch subtitle barrier” when his film won the Golden Globe for best foreign film, said backstage after his Oscar wins. With his film eclipsing big budget extravaganzas such as 1917, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and The Irishman, an overwhelmed Bong said he looked forward to the day when it would not be such a big deal for a foreign film to win in mainstream categories.

“I applaud and support the new direction that this change symbolises,” the 50-yearold said while accepting the international film Oscar from actor Penelope Cruz.