Oscars 2023: ‘Everything Everywhere’ Takes Home 7 Awards, Including Best Picture

James Friend won the Oscar for cinematography for the realism of the horrors of World War I in the German film “All Quiet on the Western Front.”

The Academy rewarded World War I cinematography only a few years ago, when Roger Deakins won the 2020 award for the harrowing drama “1917.”

“All Quiet on the Western Front,” the German-language Netflix adaptation of the classic Erich Maria Remarque novel, strove for realism and historical accuracy. Mr. Friend, who largely avoided watching previous movie remakes of the novel, has described the emotional toll shooting took. He spent many days racing through the mud in extreme wet and cold in the Czech Republic while hundreds of extras playing dead soldiers lay all around him.

This is Mr. Friend’s first Oscar.

This category has long remained a boys club. Only three women have been nominated for the award in this category: This year Mandy Walker was up for her work on the kaleidoscopic biopic “Elvis.” Before her, Ari Wegner was nominated for “The Power of the Dog” in 2022 and Rachel Morrison for “Mudbound” in 2018.