Rating: 4/5
Zone of Interest is a Polish Film Institute production distributed by A24, and directed by world-famous filmmaker, Jonathan Glazer. The film is based loosely on Martin Amis’s 2014 novel of the same title respectively.
I went into the film not knowing what it was about, only that it was a story surrounding the Holocaust. The film is presented unusually, very dissimilar to other Holocaust and Nazi-based movies I have watched.
The film focuses on a seemingly normal family in the 1940s. The family consists of Rudolf, his wife Hedwig and their five children. They are shown to enjoy spending time together, fishing at the lake near their large house, collecting honey from their at-home apiary and sunbathing in their immaculately prepared garden.
In this garden, they host relatives and friends, throwing parties, depicting the perfect nuclear family. However, this family is not normal by any means. The patriarch is Rudolf Höss, SS officer and Commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp.
The seemingly idyllic family are juxtaposed with the distressing truth that they live a stone’s throw away from Auschwitz, a place responsible for the deaths of 1.1 million people. Throughout the film, the audience is reminded of the horrors of the Holocaust. However, the audience does not see any violence as everything is behind a large white wall.
Through the main setting of their garden, watchtowers of the camp can be seen poking over this wall, and smoke from the cremation of the bodies of victims spews over. The sounds of torture and despair can be heard but become muffled white noise to the family, who do not present any moral objections to the true annihilation of people behind that wall. Without these small, yet, constant reminders in the film, the viewer would naturally assume that this story was that of a mundane family working hard to achieve their dreams.
We were confused by the depiction of a young girl sneaking out at night, hiding food like apples for the prisoners to survive on but upon reflection, have come to interpret the character, who is not identified, as highlighting a small glimpse of humanity and the suppressed opposition to Nazi control in the region.
Hedwig, played by German actress, Sandra Hüller, depicts a loving wife, who is busy with her kids. Hedwig presents pride and honour in being known as ‘The Queen of Auschwitz’, by her husband. The character highlights the complicity of those who did not carry out orders but gained from the systematic killing of Jewish people and others. A scene that stood out to me was at the beginning when Hedwig was trying on a mink coat. Moments later, we learn it had been stolen from a wealthy Jewish woman- highlighting her happiness in her newfound life as a woman of a higher status compared to the family’s previous life as farmers. Hedwig’s morality is further explored as she pleads to not leave her home following her husband’s transfer to a different town, displaying her true allegiance to social advancement. The character acts as a further reminder that qualities of evil are possessed by everyday people.
The German actor, Christian Friedel, depicts the life of Rudolf Höss as a family man and killer. The film makes sure not to emphasise Höss’s daily interactions in the camps, protecting the audience from visual trauma. However, we are reminded of his complicity in the war through small highlights of the blood washed off of his black boots and an implied sexual relationship between him and an Auschwitz prisoner. Friedel’s depiction of Höss is strong yet moving, making you uncomfortable the more you watch.
Whilst we thought the ending was quite weak in comparison to the rest of the film, it attempts to highlight the outcome of Nazi depravity through the consolidation of Auschwitz. The film ends with Höss staring into the dark distance, juxtaposed with flashes into the present-day location of Auschwitz, the bunkers and museum being cleaned by cleaners.
I visited Auschwitz in 2023 and continued to question the lives of those who lived on the other side of the barbed fences and into the town of Oświęcim. This film attempts to explore the lives of those living there and the contributions they made to the ethnic cleansing of the population. I believe this film is a must-watch for those who are interested in the subject and have the same questions as me. The film highlights contributions to the war made by seemingly normal families and the aspirational depths to achieve more presented to families who saw the war as a method of social climbing. The cinematography leaves no room for criticism, it presents beautiful and peaceful imagery while tastefully presenting a sensitive topic. The thought-provoking adaptation aims to question the psychological depths an individual will go to, through their understanding of morality. The film leaves the audience moved and changed by further truths about the perpetrators during the war.