The Zone of Interest

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 gradually, as he is promoted again, their realisation that the idyllic life they want for themselves is doomed. It's the brutal comparisons that work best here. We don't really see anything graphic on screen, that's all left to our already well enough developed imagination. The blissful ignorance of their children, the ample supply of food and the prevailing attitudes that nothing at all is amiss compares frighteningly with the real life ghastliness of those just a few feet across a large concrete wall. I suppose it could have more meat on it's bones - maybe just a little too much is left to our own interpretation and it can be a little slow at times, but it still delivers well as a template for just how many people thought the mass killings was hardly more important than whether or not they'd run out of eggs. It's not an history lesson - there are corners cut and licence is certainly taken with some of the timelines, but it's still a poignant look at human behaviour that's well worth a watch.

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 concentration camp, somehow managing to live seemingly “normal” lives in the shadow of this horrendously notorious facility. What’s most chilling, however, is that the family seems largely oblivious to the atrocities taking place on their doorstep, focusing more on their social activities and material possessions instead, even with the routine sounds of gunfire and the sight of billowing smoke from mass crematoriums filling the surrounding skies. In portraying this, the filmmaker doesn’t need to resort to graphic, gratuitous imagery to make his point about the unspeakable acts unfolding so close to home; comparatively simpler depictions of these events (and their aftermath) speak volumes instead, creating some of the most implicitly unsettling sights ever captured on film. As a consequence, this approach really makes one wonder how anybody could be so wantonly callous and unfeeling, making for truly troubling viewing. Yet it’s also the kind of imagery that has to be seen for its full impact to sink in. This Oscar nominee for best picture – and the recipient of numerous other competition and film festival accolades throughout awards season – richly deserves the attention it has garnered, even if it’s an inherently disturbing watch (sensitive viewers take note). To be sure, there are some pacing issues that could stand to be rectified, and a few story threads could use better clarity, but the picture’s superb cinematography and fine performances by its excellent ensemble cast (especially Sandra Hüller as the commandant’s self-absorbed wife) are undeniably noteworthy. This might be a film that no one wants to screen – but that everybody nevertheless should.

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 just over the wall Jews are be incinerated. When Rudolf gets a transfer, Hedwig's life goes into turmoil at the thought of leaving the lovely home she loves. And just over the wall Jews are being incinerated. There's a haunting scene that shows the results of Hedwig's gardening. It shows close-ups of the all the different flowers and plants that have been lovingly been cultivated. They are stunningly beautiful. In the background the sounds of barking dogs and screaming and yelling can be heard. And just over the wall Jews are being incinerated. There is so much about this film that is disturbing. It presents an angle to the war and the concentration camps that I haven't seen before. We often forget about "normal" life going on at the same time. Huller is excellent, just as she was in "Anatomy of a Fall". The film is leisurely and quiet. It doesn't show the horrors of what is going on next door, but it doesn't need to since those horrors permeate every scene. One of the biggest horrors is actually how people can go about living their every day life with exterminations only yards away.