Zone of Interest (2023 | Britain | 105 minutes | Jonathan Glazer)
The commandant of the Nazi encampment Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel), along with his wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller) and children live idealistic lives. They reside in a sweet and comfortable home surrounded by a beautiful flower garden, a dog always running underfoot and a swimming hole within walking distance. If it weren’t for the occasional moans and screams over the towering cement wall that lines one side of their property and the black smoke rising in the distance, you’d never guess they were knowingly participating in the slaughter of thousands of Jews and minorities mere feet away.
Zone of Interest was an incredibly effective and affecting film. That is a fact, not an opinion and the very reason it was given a six minute standing ovation at Cannes. As I watched, the theater was dead silent from beginning to end and despite the mundane slice of life that filled every moment on screen; the horror just beyond the wall painted a very different picture than if, say, they were living in the German countryside. Because honestly, from the perspective of the audience, there was no real difference between a country house and the one portrayed. A smattering of Jewish prisoners worked on everyday chores for the family, but most of the time they seemed like typical house hands; you wouldn’t even imagine they were in fear for their lives every single moment of every day. Most of the time I wanted to cry but was too stunned at their apathy to actually push the tears out of my eyes.
A bit of a spoiler, but not really… the moment I was finally able to cry came near the end. Director Jonathan Glazer chose to flash forward from the banal daily routines to present day Auschwitz as a museum; a reminder of the suffering and horrific acts that took place there in World War II. The most unnerving and upsetting moment was the visual of an entire wall encasing a seemingly unending pile of shoes from lost children, fathers, mothers, aunts, uncles, grandparents and on and on. That simple display of torn, tattered old leather shoes was enough to make me sob and while I was able to contain it to a few tears at a time, they didn’t stop falling till long after I got in my car and drove away.
Zone of Interest playing select Seattle & Portland theaters 1/19 and releases nationally 2/2