During the Nuremberg Trials, Rudolf Höss admitted that well over a million people were killed while he was commandant at Auschwitz. As this film shows, he had no issue maintaining a regular life next door.
Set in 1943, “The Zone of Interest” follows Höss (Christian Friedel) not inside the infamous camp, but rather at home with his family. While he was in charge of the camp, his residence was right beside it, only separated by a high concrete wall.
As the film demonstrates, the proximity to a place of extermination did not hinder the Höss family from living an average life, where the patriarch went off to work in the morning while his wife tended to the children and kept busy with a garden. They did all of this all while hearing the sounds from the camp.
Writer and director Jonathan Glazer’s film is certainly well crafted, with crisp cinematography that is not only artistic, but manages to capture the family’s proximity to a place of terror. Even more effective than the camerawork and mise-en-scène, though, is the film’s sound.
The noise in “Zone” is its haymaker, as gunfire, screams and other sounds of horror regularly erupt from behind the wall. It truly drives home the lack of humanity as the Höss family is able to live what’s basically a normal, suburban almost lifestyle while genocide is taking place.
It’s an awful amount of complacency with what’s happening, and every bit of sound added to the film is a reminder that those who live nearby, even if they weren’t involved, were not horrified. A problem arises, though, in the fact that this and the other strong bits of filmmaking are only good for so long.
It becomes clear very quickly what Glazer is trying to get across. The normalcy on display by people as atrocities are committed is of course jarring, but as the film goes on, it becomes repetitive. You can only make the same point so many times.
It’s like a good knife. At first it may be very sharp, just as this film is. But the more it’s used, it can become dull, even if it’s nicely made. In that sense, it’s easy to wonder if “Zone of Interest” may have worked better as a short film, perhaps a 30-minute one that shows ‘a day in the life of Höss.’
There’s certainly great commentary here, and it’s even relevant today. It can be easy to live day-to-day life comfortably while horrible things are taking place in the world. It’s of course not an apples-to-apples comparison with what was happening in the film, but it still holds some weight today.
Yet the film just keeps losing steam the more it goes on as little happens narratively to captivate a viewer. The film doesn’t even clock in at two hours, and yet it starts to feel overly long in the second half. While it does conclude with an exceptional ending, it feels like it takes too long to get there.
Certainly no changes needed to be made with the cast, though. Friedel is solid in portraying Höss’ bureaucratic attitude toward his role while Sandra Hüller as Rudolph’s wife is able to show her callous indifference to the situation.
Yet even with the strong acting, the issues persist. The cast and crew execute many things well, but “The Zone of Interest” still becomes a frustrating watch as it goes on. 2.75 out of 5.
Matthew Liedke on Film 
Interesting review. You do raise some fair points against the film, but I’m going to have to respectfully disagree. I loved the movie’s disturbing depiction of a dark time in history. As someone with a long-running interest in the Holocaust, I’ve never seen any movie portray the genocide so effectively. Here’s why it resonated with me: https://huilahimovie.reviews/2024/03/20/the-zone-of-interest-2023-movie-review/
LikeLike