From the very first trailer, The Zone of Interest is instantly captivating. The blips of beautifully crafted shots mixed with the unnerving score interspersed with reviews expressing the film’s urgency. The film is written and directed by Johnathan Glazer (Under the Skin, Sexy Beast and Birth) and is loosely adapted from the novel The Zone of Interest by Martin Amis. The film follows Nazi officer Rudolf Höss and his family as they live a shockingly normal life while sharing a wall with the concentration camp Auschwitz. The Zone of Interest makes us confront the unimaginable; forcing the viewer to grapple with the ability of human beings to ignore the unspeakable happening right in front of their eyes.
In many ways, The Zone of Interest is more akin to a horror movie than a drama. Jonathan Glazer is masterful in creating a suffocating atmosphere, leaving the viewer’s heart pounding and breath held. It all comes down to what the film wants you to hear and see. What Glazer wants you to see is a family going about their life. A dad going to work, a mom tending to the kids. This image of the perfect nuclear family juxtaposed with the small glimpses of the horrors around them. It’s almost claustrophobic. The viewers are trapped, forced to watch this family’s interpersonal drama with only our minds to fill in the blanks of what is happening on the other side of that wall. It’s nauseating being forced to hear and see how normal this family’s life is while being complicit in the holocaust. Both Christian Friedel who plays Rudolf Höss and Sandra Hüeller who plays Hedwig Höss deliver stomach-churning performances. The normalcy both bring to their respective roles is haunting.
One of the film’s many strong points is its use of sound. In most of the domestic scenes, the sound is understated, relying on the voices of the actors and their surroundings. This creates an atmosphere of unmoving silence in the theater, demanding the viewer’s attention. The quietness throughout the film makes the moments where we hear the sounds of the outside world or the score even more impactful. The score is incredible, composer Mica Levi delivers an absolutely unnerving soundscape, adding an extra layer of discomfort to the scenes where it is present. Another one of the film’s strong points is its direction and cinematography. Each shot is perfectly composed and brought together seamlessly. Almost every shot features a reminder of what’s happening outside of the family’s life. Whether it be the shared wall in contrast with the family’s lush garden, or the view of smoke from the house’s windows. It’s a perfect example of showing something without showing it. We know from these shots what is happening, but Glazer never actually shows it to us.
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The Zone of Interest is an incredibly important film. Not only for what it forces us to confront in the past but for what it forces us to confront in the present. We as humans would like to believe that we wouldn’t stand by while atrocities are committed. But as history and this film shows us, that couldn’t be further from the truth. This film shows the banality of evil, the ability of regular people to do acts of great evil. We the viewers have become a part of this narrative. We looked on as this family went about life. They didn’t do anything to stop what was happening around them and neither did we. We were complicit. Just like them. These feelings and these questions are exactly what Jonathan Glazer wants us to sit with. We the viewer must look at ourselves, our lives, and the world around us. Would we have stood by then, are we standing by now? That’s a question only you can answer.
5/5 STARS