February 26, 2024 · Watch the trailer
Little actually happens in writer/director Jonathan Glazer’s latest film.
A man takes his family to the river to relax; the wife builds an immaculate garden in the backyard of their immaculate home and their children live with few cares in the world.
From an outsider’s perspective, this simple, quaint look into familial life might seem almost mundane or boring, except for the setting just outside the walls of their home.
In Glazer’s Oscar nominated Best Picture contender “The Zone of Interest,” however, the man is Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his family – in a state of either obliviousness or complete silence and denial – ignores the atrocities of the Holocaust seemingly just out of reach but are ever present in the background of their lives.
Audiences never see the violence happening on screen. In fact, there are no Jewish characters in the film at all.
Glazer seeks to understand the ways in which German leaders and their families handled daily affairs under such a controlling regime and loosely examines their complicity in mass genocide.
Because the world of “Interest” is so compartmentalized, the acting performances Glazer captures on film are small and subtle to help reinforce the mundanity of everyday life next to mass murder.
Christian Friedel has a stoic, sternness to his work as Rudolf that comes across as matter of fact, when there’s a terrific undercurrent of care for his wife and children that feels like unspoken reinforcement of his character’s sense of duty to protect them from the outside world.
Sandra Hüller, nominated for lead actress for her work in “Anatomy of a Fall,” has an even more subdued turn as Rudolf’s wife Hedwig, and her piously demure nature has fractions of joy seeping in that reflect just how unaware or ignorant of the horrors just outside the frame truly are.
One of the things that separates “Interest” from most Holocaust-focused films is the distance the filmmakers take from their subject.
Cameras were hard wired throughout the house to capture footage simultaneously, so that no crew members were on set during scenes. This creates an intensely voyeuristic feel to the entire film and heightens the isolation the actors feel on screen, almost as if they are dolls in a playhouse just on the other side of death.
How Glazer confronts the evil beyond their walls is equally compelling. Audiences will occasionally see a chimneystack ablaze in the far background of a scene, implying murderous incineration, which becomes increasingly notable to viewers after a seemingly routine discussion between Höss and some consultants about the best ways to build new furnaces at the facility.
What truly sets “Interest” apart, though, is the foreboding sound design paired against composer Mica Levi’s haunting score.
The gentle quietness of the family’s daily life is sharply broken by the sounds of random gunfire, children screaming and other piercing noises that pervade the outer world of the film.
While this immediately haunts and impacts the viewing experience, “Interest” maintains the frugal mundane atmosphere of the home life as the Höss family have grown so accustomed to the sounds of brutality that they are able to ignore or tune it out of their daily lives.
It’s almost difficult for a viewer to remain engaged in the dialogue when they begin to become overwhelmed by the gravity of what happens outside the camera frame, and Glazer’s team of sound designers do truly masterful work to create a sense of fear and dread for audiences that the family never experiences on screen.
“The Zone of Interest” is certain to win the prize for Best International Feature Film at next month’s Academy Award ceremony with Best Sound a virtual lock as well. Though it seems less likely that it could surpass the global force of “Oppenheimer,” a strong international contingent of voters might help propel the film to directing and best picture wins as well.
Without question the most quietly jarring film of 2023, “The Zone of Interest” has a compelling, understated reflection on a dark time in world history that ardent cinephiles should absolutely check out in theaters or in the privacy of their homes now that Glazer’s best film is available to purchase on demand.
Leave a Reply