The Zone of Interest

Some movies just have to be seen, even if they make for a difficult watch, and writer-director Jonathan Glazer’s latest is one of those pictures. While this offering is at times a bit uneven, when it’s on, it’s on, leaving a powerfully indelible mark on viewers, one that you feel in your gut and your heart and can’t get out of your mind. The film tells the unnerving story of the family of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel). They reside directly next door to the infamous Nazi concentration camp, somehow managing to live seemingly “normal” lives in the shadow of this horrendously notorious facility. What’s most chilling, however, is that the family seems largely oblivious to the atrocities taking place on their doorstep, focusing more on their social activities and material possessions instead, even with the routine sounds of gunfire and the sight of billowing smoke from mass crematoriums filling the surrounding skies. In portraying this, the filmmaker doesn’t need to resort to graphic, gratuitous imagery to make his point about the unspeakable acts unfolding so close to home; comparatively simpler depictions of these events (and their aftermath) speak volumes instead, creating some of the most implicitly unsettling sights ever captured on film. As a consequence, this approach really makes one wonder how anybody could be so wantonly callous and unfeeling, making for truly troubling viewing. Yet it’s also the kind of imagery that has to be seen for its full impact to sink in. This Oscar nominee for best picture – and the recipient of numerous other competition and film festival accolades throughout awards season – richly deserves the attention it has garnered, even if it’s an inherently disturbing watch (sensitive viewers take note). To be sure, there are some pacing issues that could stand to be rectified, and a few story threads could use better clarity, but the picture’s superb cinematography and fine performances by its excellent ensemble cast (especially Sandra Hüller as the commandant’s self-absorbed wife) are undeniably noteworthy. This might be a film that no one wants to screen – but that everybody nevertheless should.

The Zone of Interest is a 2023 historical drama film written and directed by Jonathan Glazer, loosely based on the 2014 novel by Martin Amis, that based herself on the life that Rudolf Höss, Nazi commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp from 1940-43 must had in that time in his residence, just at the side of the camp. It premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, winning both the Grand Prix and FIPRESCI Prize. For the 96th Academy Awards, it received 5 nominations (including Best Motion Picture, Best International Feature Film, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Sound) - for me best sound is almost a win, and have great chances for best international movie and adapted screenplay. Both Christian Friedel as Rudolf Höss and Sandra Hüller (from Anatomy of a Fall) as Hedwig Höss are exceptional in their roles. It focus on the idyllic live of the Nazi commander, in his house on the most normal life conditions, while the Holocaust and the killing machine he created works at just some meters of distance. The camera focus on medium and large plans, often showing the life of the dreams, but on the horizon we often see signs of the terror like smoke from the locomotives and from the enormous chimneys at the distance. We also have other signs, extremely subtle, like the sound of shouts and shots at the background, that only shows as more close in rare sequences. Other sequences like the girl, shoot in Infrared that left at night apples and fruits for the camp workers are just haunting (and the cause of one of the more aggressive shout sequence I mention above). Interesting enough is the view as close the view of the concentration camp is on the movie in the past, and in the present as a memorial. Both are unmistakable, but in either vision a far cry from what the reality must have been inside them. For the movie is a 8.6 from 10.0 / A- and a must see for 2024.

Even in the middle of a war, there are two world's that exist side by side. One of ever day life. Raising kids. Working a job. Gardening. Having lunch with friends. Yet...over the wall is horrors. Rudolf Hoss is a commandant at Auschwitz during World War II. His wife Hedwig, played by Sandra Huller, and his children all live in the family homes over the wall from the camp. They live a normal life, and Hedwig prides herself on the beautiful flowers and swimming pool to enjoy. And just over the wall Jews are be incinerated. When Rudolf gets a transfer, Hedwig's life goes into turmoil at the thought of leaving the lovely home she loves. And just over the wall Jews are being incinerated. There's a haunting scene that shows the results of Hedwig's gardening. It shows close-ups of the all the different flowers and plants that have been lovingly been cultivated. They are stunningly beautiful. In the background the sounds of barking dogs and screaming and yelling can be heard. And just over the wall Jews are being incinerated. There is so much about this film that is disturbing. It presents an angle to the war and the concentration camps that I haven't seen before. We often forget about "normal" life going on at the same time. Huller is excellent, just as she was in "Anatomy of a Fall". The film is leisurely and quiet. It doesn't show the horrors of what is going on next door, but it doesn't need to since those horrors permeate every scene. One of the biggest horrors is actually how people can go about living their every day life with exterminations only yards away.