The Zone of Interest - Movie Review

A haunting Auschwitz is the setting for the unfolding of the Zone of Interest which is centred on Commandant Rudolf Höss and his clan. The wife of Höss, Hedwig, tries to keep a sort of normalcy in their home near the death camp as he carries out his gruesome duties. First, the film explores how life in privilege can still coexist with atrocities; and secondly the banality of evil.

The film is unsettling, but strangely serene in tone, which highlights the estrangement between characters pettiness and their surroundings, and the horror that surrounds them. It is a juxtaposition that instils discomfort and raises questions for the way we are as humans, and morally blind when faced with a situation.

Christian Friedel and Sandra Hüller very poignantly perform Rudolf and Hedwig Höss. Höss is embodied by Friedel who has the chilling composure, and Hüller is captivating as her oblivious wife unable to detect the moral depravity of the surroundings. Jonathan Glazers direction is involved and uninviting.

Their chemistry adds drama to the narrative and holds the audience in a disturbing reality. Instead he creates a narrative that makes the audience suffer uncomfortable truths of complicity and ignorance. The choice to not include violent imagery on screen about the characters insulated world is an effective storytelling tactic in itself for Glazers film,

The score in the film is hauntingly minimalistic, perfect complementing the films chilling atmosphere. Visually, the film is hauntingly beautiful.

The music blends into the ambient sounds of the setting, creating uneasy juxtaposition of life and death in this narrative. The color and methods of framing in the cinematography define the pre and post moral incongruousness between home and Auschwitz. The production design perfectly rewrites the period and authentically presents the domestic grime alongside Auschwitz.

The period reconstruction in production design is authentically present in its domestic grime next to the camp. It is a reflection of how carefully a sense of normalcy has been constructed amidst horror.

Special effects are sparingly used but have been integrated with many tricks of the trade to subtract from a glossed over release of horror or plain bankability, and to simulate historical events. Editing in the film is sharp and precise and interweaves serene family moments with the background horrors in seamless fashion.

Rather than watching scenes of violence, viewers focus on the emotional and moral impact. The viewer is left with a jarring contrast that is both poignant and keeps the viewer in the same state of anxiety as the characters by the creation of this duality.|The pace of the film moves at a steady and thoughtful pace as the audience can really soak in the gravity of the characters and the ignorance that engulfs them while also slowing itself down long enough for the audience to grasp the gravity of their ignorance. The film features measly but intense dialogues, which remix the themes of indifference and denial.

This deliberate pacing helps create the lingering unease building up on the screen. Glazers film is restrained not just in action but also in dialogue, compelling viewers to look to the actions and atmosphere, rather than words, and the films narrative is powerful, but the insular perspective of the Höss family may limit potential viewers understanding of the scope of historical horrors. The Zone of Interest does not challenge moral sensibilities but risks reducing down historically complex matters. It makes audience question about the nature of evil and human indifference. A haunting impression from the film, it leaves us with a call for a deeper understanding on history’s lessons.