Now available to buy or rent on digital download in the UK is the historical drama, The Zone of Interest. Written and directed by Jonathan Glazer, and based on the book of the same name by Martin Amis, The Zone of Interest stars Christian Friedel and Sandra Hüller, and follows the story of Auschwitz concentration camp commandant, Rudolf Hüss.
Set in Poland in 1943, The Zone of Interest revolves around Hüss, his wife Hedwig, and their five children. The family live in a beautiful home, with a swimming pool and luscious garden, which sits directly next to the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Throughout the course of the film, Hüss and his family are shown to live a privileged life, while ignoring the horrors which exist outside the boundaries of their home. Shootings and mass exterminations take place within earshot, but it is all ignored in favour of maintaining the life they have become accustomed to.
Eventually Hüss is promoted and given a new position in Oranienburg, but rather than pull his family away from their home, he temporarily moves out. Hedwig and the children remain where they are, continuing their illusion of happiness as darkness descends upon the world.
There are a number of movies which centre their story around the Holocaust (Schindler’s List, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, etc), but none are perhaps so formal, or are presented so clinically, as The Zone of Interest. The way in which writer/director Jonathan Glazer positions this movie is to take a step back from showing the visual atrocities of Auschwitz, and instead to focus on the day-to-day life of the Hüss family.
A great deal of the movie is simply about them living their lives. They laugh, they play, they swim, and they live a seemingly idyllic existence.
This existence is of course not idyllic, and the reality of what is unfolding around them seeps into their lives in little ways here and there, but for the most part it is kept on the fringes of the film. The barbed fences of the concentration camp can be seen poking out behind their garden wall, and gun shots permeate the air, but The Zone of Interest is about the family’s decision to remain as ignorant as possible while terrible things take place.
What’s so striking about The Zone of Interest is just how impactful the staging of the movie is. Keeping the pain and suffering hidden behind a pretty garden wall is just as shocking as showing it.
As the audience, we don’t need to see the mass deaths to be aware of what is taking place. Anyone who has an understanding of the Holocaust, or who has seen movies or documentaries about this dreadful moment in human history, knows exactly what is happening.
What’s key here is the way in which Glazer uses the mundanity of life to bring out this tragedy. Watching the Hüss family sit down to eat lunch, or seeing Hedwig boast about her garden to her mother, is enough of a constant reminder of what they have, and what everyone on the other side of the wall does not.
But Glazer goes even further. A conversation about the cremation of hundreds of people becomes so normalised, and so business-like, it is shocking how anyone could even utter the words without chocking on every syllable.
To add to this, the director utilises space to draw out anger and frustration from the audience. By keeping some distance from the horror of the camp, we can only watch on in sheer frustration as the family choose to turn a blind eye.
It’s staging like this which sets The Zone of Interest apart from its peers. The film is about showing the other side of the Holocaust and how it can be normalised by those who benefit from tragedy.
At the centre of the film are actors Christian Friedel and Sandra Hüller, who are both excellent in their roles as Rudolph and Hedwig respectively. Their seemingly nonchalant approach to the situation around them ensures they remain believable monsters at all times and this adds to the uneasy nature of the film.
Hüller in particular is terrifying in her role. She gives an understated performance, but one which occasionally demonstrates the temper she keeps under the surface.
The actors work well together, and Glazer does a good job of making the family feel like a tight unit. They are awful people, but they are perfectly captured on film for the story being told here.
The Zone of Interest is a truly mesmerising movie. It is cold and calculated, and conveys so much (often without saying anything at all), and is built on an understanding of how terrible ignorance can be.
With this film, Jonathan Glazer manages to capture the sheer inhumanity of the Holocaust at every turn. He does so with very little drama and no major spectacle, and yet what he puts in front of the camera speaks volumes.
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