Zona de Interesse

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.

This film was definitely different than I expected. Yes, it's a little slow. But you have to go into the screening not waiting for something big to happen. The whole point of the film is to show us that while all the horrific events of the Holocaust were happening and Jews were being murdered just for existing, there were plenty of folks that lived like everything was normal.

The fact the the Hoss family didn't even register the screams, cries, gunshots, dogs barking and massive amounts of fire and smoke shooting into the air right next door, just shows how self involved, entitled & oblivious they were. Thank goodness for Grandma who realized things were not right even after wondering aloud if her ex employer was "over there."

The most telling bit of action that I thought was genius was the dog, Dilla. The household is calmly going about their days. Servants are stoically doing their jobs, kids are playing and Mom is busy revelling in how great she has it. There's a bit of unrest in the house because of a disturbed sleep-walking daughter and a baby girl that obviously knows this world is f-ed up and is crying nonstop hoping Mom will let her go back into the good place.

But Dilla! She is trying to get anyone's attention! She is running, scratching on doors, whining and barking in every shot. Obviously she is the only one who REALLY hears what's going on next door and knows there are very bad people there. She can hear the cries and screams. Why won't anyone pay attention to her and listen to what she has to say? Somebody pay attention to the dog! Listen to Dilla! She's trying to tell you something and she's the only one that sees the truth.

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.

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.

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.