The Zone of Interest

There's a house that looks and feels like any other, with a mother and her children who are brothers - and there's a wall around this plot, the other side people are not, and they will not get the chance, to rediscover. As the father is the commandant of death, responsible for taking their last breath, though he lives without a care, just like his wife who loves it there, and it's clear they're very proud, of their success. After all, you have to have a certain mind, to exterminate a race of humankind, and then live a normal life, without guilt, or strain, or strife, in a house, with a big wall, to hide behind.

Glazers movie is loosely based on Martin Amis' novel The Zone Of Interest, extracting just one aspect out of it, the so-called normal life of the Höss family, living next to Auschwitz Concentration Camp, which was under Höss' command. Their life is being shown in an almost documentary style, in absolutely realistic reconstruction of the historical setting. Everything about their home is so bluntly normal, average and pseudo idyllic that it would be even boring, if we weren't be aware of the concentration camp hell just behind the wall around their garden.

What we don't see we're getting to hear on the background sound. While garden parties are being celebrated and children play at the pool side, we hear the barking of dogs, brutal shouting, the shooting, the permanent sound of industrial murder, as a constant reminder of the atrocities the family doesn't ever seem to notice.

The banality of evil is based on ignoring the murderous Nazi reality all around.

What we get to see sometimes are smoking chimneys and the smoke of incoming trains in the distance, transporting more victims to the gas chambers.

The erasing horror is a result of Glazers concept of refusing any empathy and subjective involvement to the viewer, with disturbing effect, because we, unlike the Nazi family, are unable to suppress the obvious.

For some this might be an unbearable patience test, for others it might raise the question of how much we're suppressing and ignoring nowadays to be able to continue our average daily life.

Director Jonathan Glazer isn't very prolific with only three prior films over the past 23 years, but each is marked by a distinctive vision (SEXY BEAST, BIRTH and UNDER THE SKIN). ZONE OF INTEREST is no different with an even more controlled conception.

Loosely adapting Martin Amis' novel, Glazer creates a setting, a tableu, and never lets go. Opening with a long ominous musical overture by Mica Levi the viewer is plunged into a seemingly tranquil German family home. Uniformed Nazi officers are about, served by compliant women. A commandant, Rudolf Hoss (Christian Friedel) returns home to his family including his wife Hedwig (Sandra Huller, superb as she also was in this year's ANATOMY OF A FALL) and five children. Hedwig's mother, Linna (Imogen Kogge) comes to stay with them. Their yard is idyllic save for a high concrete fence that partially masks an industrial looking building just behind it. Auschwitz.

Lukasz Zal's (IDA, COLD WAR) camera never moves. The set-ups are often at quite a distance, as if it were all a set-piece on a stage. As officers come and go, the viewer overhears snatches of conversation about how to more efficiently run the camps, Rudolf attententively leads the discussions. Hedwig runs the home, with a determined, yet outwardly calm demeanor. The banality of evil has rarely been depicted with such domesticality. The children play outside as most kids would do, only with a faint everpresent chimny smoke wafting into the sky. There are a couple of departures from the regimented compositions when dark children's fairy tales are depicted as if a camera negative. Levi contributes additional chilling music cues.

As placidly chilling as the visuals are Sound Designer Johnnie Burn creates a malevolent maelstrom of audio effects mixing in gunshots, dog barks, mayhem and human voices. Glazer never shows the insides of the camp, yet the sound and visions more than carry his intent. Even more so, since they burrow into the audience's subconscious.

Glazer has crafted a movie with a precise, if a bit self-limiting, goal. There are some moments that don't work (particularly late in the film), but one never doubts that it is uniquely his own. For those willing to take the bleak journey, Levi's exit music will haunt one long after it fades out.

It's rare that I say this but 'The Zone of Interest' is a film where the more you know going in, the more you will likely enjoy it. I always try my best to know as little about a film going in as possible, however I think that really hurt my enjoyment of this film. I kept waiting for a story to develop, for some kind of conflict or plot or just... something. In hindsight I now see what the film was going for and if I had known that I think I would've enjoyed it a lot more (or at least a little more).

I had to watch a few explanation videos to fully grasp what they were going for. This is clearly a very intelligent and well thought out piece of cinema, but it certainly isn't going to be for everyone. Watching those explanation videos made me realise that I myself am nowhere near smart enough to fully appreciate a film like this on a single viewing.

I think I like the idea of 'The Zone of Interest' more than the actual film itself. This one won't be for everyone, however if you are able to grasp what they're going for and connect with it, I imagine it could be quite a special experience. 6/10.

This incandescent film portrays the idyllic life that the family of Nazi commandant Rudolf Hoss enjoyed in a sumptuous house right next to the concentration camp in Auschwitz right in the middle of the Holocaust. There is very little soundtrack and it all unfolds at a deliberate pace that is in keeping with Jonathan Glazer's slow-burn, disquieting style. A rigorous sense of order and calm is prevalent throughout.

We never actually see any of the Holocaust taking place even though it's right next door. The barbarism and butchery are only apparent from the screams in the distance or from fires at night or smoke during the daytime. The pristine, lush surroundings of this family bely the mass extermination that is taking place in the immediate vicinity. It's a masterful work in which conveys horrible events by leaving them to the imagination.

A repeat viewing might be helpful as subtitles in this film are sometimes rapid-fire. But overall, this is an extraordinary and memorable film from start to finish. Recommended to everyone, without exception.