About the film (courtesy of A24):
The commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, and his wife Hedwig, strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden next to the camp.
Christian Friedel gives a powerful performance as Höss, a man who is both deeply disturbed and strangely ordinary. He is a loving husband and father, but he is also capable of unspeakable cruelty. As the architect of Auschwitz, Höss is consumed by his own delusions of grandeur and obsessed with creating a perfect, orderly world within the death camp. The Zone of Interest does not shy away from showing the darkness within Höss, but it also avoids making him into a monster. Instead, it portrays him as a complex and contradictory figure who is both perpetrator and victim.
Sandra Hüller is equally excellent as Hedwig Höss, Rudolf’s wife. Hedwig is aware of what is happening at the camp, but she chooses to turn a blind eye. After all, she is a product of her time and place, and she is unable to imagine a world outside of Nazi ideology. Like many people of this era, she is more interested in maintaining her comfortable life and her social standing.
The Zone of Interest is beautifully shot, with long takes and a dreamlike quality that emphasizes the unreality of Höss’s world. The score by Mica Levi is unsettling and discordant, adding to the film’s overall atmosphere of dread.
For obvious reasons, The Zone of Interest is not an easy film to watch, but it is an important one. It forces us to confront the uncomfortable truth that evil is not always monstrous. Something that you’d assume is cut and dry becomes much more complex through the lens of director Jonathan Glazer. The film’s slow pace and dreamlike atmosphere create a sense of unease and claustrophobia, as if we are trapped inside Höss’s warped mind.
Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest is not your typical Holocaust film. It’s not a straightforward historical drama or a sentimental tearjerker. Instead, it’s a haunting and unsettling exploration of the human capacity for evil, set against the backdrop of one of the darkest chapters in human history.
The Zone of Interest is not a film for everyone. It’s a challenging and disturbing watch, but it’s also a powerful and important one. It’s a film that will stay with you long after the credits roll, forcing you to confront the darkest aspects of human nature. Whether you decide to head to theaters, watch this quietly in your own home or skip this altogether is absolutely your prerogative.
While The Zone of Interest has been out for several weeks in select cities, if you fall into the interested category of this type of feature, you can catch it in local theaters starting this Friday, January 26th.
