Jonathan Glazer’s first feature film in 10 years is a devastating triumph and a chilling portrayal of the family living behind the other side of the walls of Auschwitz. Winner of the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, The Zone of Interest is loosely based upon the Höss family, who live in a seemingly idyllic home on the grounds of the death camp. The head of the family, Rudolph, played by Christian Friedel, oversees the camp, formulating plans and strategies for the eradication of millions of lives. His wife, Hedwig, played by Sandra Hüller, runs a brutalist regime as a housewife.
Much of its narrative is set in the beautiful garden at the house. Strikingly beautiful, but hiding the horrific conditions and murder taking place beyond its wall. The garden serves as a metaphor for the family who spend time in it, ignorant to their greater surroundings.
The Höss’ appear content but the plot unravels a thread of discontent and cruelty. Rudolph goes to great lengths to conceal parts of his life from his wife; He does not inform her of his promotion to Berlin, and secretly conducts an affair; The eldest boy, Klaus, traps his younger brother in the greenhouse on a hot summer’s day, gleefully watching his brother’s misery, an allegory to his father’s actions; Rudolph’s cunning and vicious wife, Hedwig, amplifies the brutality of the family. We see her trying on expensive furs and the makeup formerly owned by the camp’s prisoners, memorised in her own self image. The Höss children, oblivious to what lies beyond the grey brick wall of their utopian garden, bask in the glory of the sunshine in their home, celebrating birthdays in the backdrop of genocide.
Glazer’s directorial decisions are a testament to the film’s creativity. He chose to have no crew on set to film the family, filming the cast remotely and leaving them in isolation. The acts of genocide are not shown like in films like Schindler’s List. Instead it’s left to the audience’s interpretation through an excellent use of sound. The faint screams of prisoners being executed, gunshots, and the burning of a furnace are crucial to the success of this film. The only true glimmer of hope and compassion we see comes in the form of a young girl, part of the Polish resistance. The girl slips out under the cover of darkness to leave food for the camp’s starved inhabitants. She is nearly only seen through a thermal imaging camera – a mysterious saviour.
The film reflects upon the lives lost and how casually we now perceive the holocaust, merely an artefact on display in a museum. It closes by displaying Auschwitz’s modern day purpose, an uncomfortable documentation of the largest mass genocide in human history. Cutting back to Nazi Germany, Rudolph is shown spitting up phlegm, almost disgusted, walking down a staircase in Berlin.
We are not left with a gratuitous ending, only hatred for those we watched live their meticulously monotonous lives.
5/5
Image Credit: TMDB