We are not starved for war films, from the surface level action flicks, to the harrowing looks into human life during times when we are at our most divided. However, with all of those out there, I don’t believe there is a war film quite like this one, The Zone of Interest gives us insight to a real family, living beyond the walls of Auschwitz during the Holocaust. It takes away the horrors of watching the atrocities that happened, to hit you almost more impactfully with the distant sounds emanating from the camp, as the family bathe in their privilege, dismissal and justification. The family not only live on the outskirts, they are directly involved, with Rudolph Höss (Christian Friedel) as a commandant of the Nazis. The film uses this sensory deprivation to create an environment of pure discomfort and disgust in these characters, giving you almost no hope to grip on to. From technical creation to the performances, this film is a master class in storytelling through a unique perspective.
Rudolph lives with his wife, Hedwig (Sandra Hüller) and their children in an idyllic home, with a blooming garden, swimming pool and ample room for the family to live comfortably. We start the story watching them all play and swim in the nearby lake, carefree and innocent. As we travel back to the house, we are shown who they are and how they perceive themselves. They are stuck in the routine of the concentration camp, with Rudolph heading off to work like any other job, and the kids playing in the garden like any other garden. They are completely dismissive of the noise that is constantly screaming over their sturdy concrete wall, separating them from ever seeing what kind of horrors are going on next door.
There is no ambiguity with this family not being aware of what is going on though, talking about it and at one point, taking some of the Jewish people’s clothing as their own. Hedwig even trying on one of their lipsticks in the mirror with a cold expression. The children are indoctrinated to this life, and think nothing of it, living their daily lives with experiences that they feel owed, like a first kiss or playing in the snow, all wrapped up warm.
The paradise is shifted when Rudolph gets a job offer in Berlin, being asked to relocate his family, Hedwig is unhappy to hear this, claiming that where they are now is their home and she would have to be dragged out kicking and screaming before she left. Every line of dialogue in this film feels like a jab of a knife when comparing it to what is happening so close to the house. However, this scene in particular is horrifying to watch, as Hedwig blatantly describes what is happening to millions of families across Europe at the time, without even a second thought or regard for their situation. This leaves Rudolph to head off on his own, keeping communication through telephone calls with his family back at Auschwitz.
The story has a lot of nuance throughout, highlighting the disregard that the family have for the lives of the Jewish people. They rarely mention them, but it is never forgotten where we are and what is going on. This is mostly thanks to the cinematography, framing the luscious garden against the uninviting brutalist construction of the camp that looms over the house. Every time the camera's frame out the building, we are in the Höss’ world, self contained and without care, but we are never let up by the soundscape in the background.
The sound design of this film is phenomenal, creating a fully realised world in the background, that you feel with every rogue gunshot or ear piercing scream. It is a world on its own, never feeling like they are trying to fill the silence or create an uncomfortable feeling for the sake of it. The film draws you in with its harsh realism through this, knowing where it is set and having so much care in the creation of it.
This also shows in the acting of the film, with Sandra Huller delivering another stellar performance as Hedwig. She is completely irredeemable and callous with everything she says, without ever drifting into villainy or a conscious effort to try and characterise this woman. Christian Friedel playing Rudolph brings a similar level of coldness to his character, with the most blatant dismissal of human lives.
This level of acting is based on an incredible script by Jonathon Glazer, which is adapted from The Zone of Interest by Martin Amis. This novel takes a more fictionalised approach, changing the names of the family and writing from a different perspective. Here Glazer is committed to writing about the real family involved in this, spending around five years working with researchers at Auschwitz to collate diary entries and reports on the family to help aid his writing process. This level of detail and care is felt through every harrowing line of dialogue spoken by Rudolph and Hedwig, and every contemptuous action by the children in the film.
Not only was the writing done in a careful way, but the approach to the filming was quite unique, setting up ten camera angles each day to suit the scenes being shot and allowing the actors freedom to explore the fully recreated Höss house in a 360 degree world. The crew would sit on the other side of a wall in order to stay out of the way and allow for the most raw of performances to emerge.
Glazer and his editor Paul Watts cut the footage in a slow pace, allowing for us to sit in a moment and take in the emotion. WIth this, you would expect to feel the runtime a little more however it races by, with 105 minutes feeling like 45. The film is so dense with story and emotion that you don’t notice the time going by whatsoever.
The film also has a very muted score by Mica Levi, who Glazer has worked with before on Under The Skin. The score is minimal, leaving room for the cacophony of horrors to be heard in the Auschwitz soundscape. When we do hear the music, it feels like it is emerging from hell with devilish bass rumbling the screen and cutting into you at exactly the right moments. The film opens with an impactful track, lowering in pitch to make you feel like you’re sinking into the ground along with the noise. We end with the opposite, rising and attacking sounds as the credits roll. Although this does not have the effect of lifting you out of the sunken musical hole you imagine, it feels like it's encompassing you and filling your ears in the most menacing way it can.
All these elements come together to make a genuinely horrific film that will stick with me for a long time. I will struggle to shake the feelings I had while watching it, and every time I think back on it or speak about it with someone else, it feels like I am right back in it, experiencing those oppressive emotions all over again.
Even though that is a negative thing, I can’t deny my awe for this film, being so rich in emotion and intelligence to know what to do at every single turn. I haven’t seen a film this impactful for a long time and I feel like it will be another long time before anything hits me in this way again.
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