The Zone of Interest

Lachlan Thiele

May 28, 2023

9/10

<b>INT. LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS - NIGHT</b> Auschwitz is the location of the world's most unforgivable crime — where humanity lost itself. An area forever marked with the horrors of xenophobia and a story that filmmakers continuously attempt to display on the screen. While holocaust cinema isn't being worked into the ground like other genres, there hasn't been a breath of fresh air for a while.  <i>The Zone of Interest</i> is that breath. From the get-go, you're engulfed back into Auschw…

FULL SPOILER-FREE REVIEW @ https://fandomwire.com/the-zone-of-interest-bfi-london-film-festival-review-one-of-the-most-important-films-of-our-time/ "The Zone of Interest is one of the most memorable, remarkable films of the last few years. Jonathan Glazer achieves a fascinating dissociation between the general tone of the movie and the mundane actions of the protagonist family, portraying the unbelievably shocking global apathy in the face of the greatest crime in human history. An extreme…

CinemaSerf

November 23, 2023

7/10

Christian Friedel is quite effective in his portrayal of the Nazi commandant Rudolf Höss here. He and wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller) offer us one of the most stark contradictions I think I've ever seen on screen. The beautifully manicured garden of a delightful family home with an unique next door neighbour. That would be the Auschwitz concentration camp of which he was in control. We follow his selection to run the place, his increasing role in implementing the extermination processes and then gra…

Some movies just have to be seen, even if they make for a difficult watch, and writer-director Jonathan Glazer’s latest is one of those pictures. While this offering is at times a bit uneven, when it’s on, it’s on, leaving a powerfully indelible mark on viewers, one that you feel in your gut and your heart and can’t get out of your mind. The film tells the unnerving story of the family of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel). They reside directly next door to the infamous Nazi co…

Cinema_Snobb

February 21, 2024

9/10

Even in the middle of a war, there are two world's that exist side by side. One of ever day life. Raising kids. Working a job. Gardening. Having lunch with friends. Yet...over the wall is horrors. Rudolf Hoss is a commandant at Auschwitz during World War II. His wife Hedwig, played by Sandra Huller, and his children all live in the family homes over the wall from the camp. They live a normal life, and Hedwig prides herself on the beautiful flowers and swimming pool to enjoy. And j…

The Zone of Interest is a 2023 historical drama film written and directed by Jonathan Glazer, loosely based on the 2014 novel by Martin Amis, that based herself on the life that Rudolf Höss, Nazi commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp from 1940-43 must had in that time in his residence, just at the side of the camp. It premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, winning both the Grand Prix and FIPRESCI Prize. For the 96th Academy Awards, it received 5 nominations (including Best Motion Pi…

The Zone of Interest takes the notion of the "banality of evil", back to its true origin, the family home. All human evil starts with a home. In this instance, the home of a concentration camp commander, Rudolf Höss, of Auschwitz and his family. The laid back ease of middle class family life, of an upper management level Nazi, is juxtaposed with suffering of people (Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, political dissidents, religious minorities and yes even some allied soldiers, who were prisoners of…

A subtle horrific historic narrative of the Holocaust.