A joint review of
The Zone of Interest

A family’s daily life at Auschwitz shows the banality of evil

By Luc Archambault and Andrew Burlone

March 25, 2024

The Zone of Interest, a 2023 historical drama film written and directed by Jonathan Glazer, premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on 19 May 2023 to critical acclaim. It won the Grand Prix and FIPRESCI Prize, three BAFTAs and was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards. The Zone of Interest won the Oscar award for Best International Feature Film at the 2024 Academy Awards.

The narrative delves into themes of marital companionship, family dynamics, and the banality of evil, despite the proximity to the horrors of the camp. Focusing on the Höss family’s daily life, the story highlights how individuals can live in luxury while turning a blind eye to the suffering and devastation surrounding them.

The story highlights how individuals can live in luxury while turning a blind eye to the suffering and devastation surrounding them.

The actors include Christian Friedel and Sandra Hüller, as Nazi commandant Rudolf Höss and his wife Hedwig, who live with their children in a home next to the concentration camp. The acting, characterized by a unique and challenging filming method, required actors to immerse themselves fully in their roles within a meticulously crafted environment capturing the dullness of the characters’ lives.

The director set up ten cameras around the house where the film was shot, allowing scenes to unfold simultaneously and creating a dynamic and immersive environment for the actors. This unique filming technique also challenged the actors to improvise and move freely within the space, inducing a dynamic and authentic environment. The cinematography is impressive. The indoor scenes are all shot in natural light without artificial lighting.

The film’s sound design, for which Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn received an Oscar at the 2024 Academy Awards, is revolutionary in its approach to storytelling. The movie presents two distinct soundscapes: one accompanying the on-screen narrative of the Höss family’s domestic life, and the other portraying the harrowing sounds of the death camp, which are heard but not seen.

Mica Levi’s musical score covers only 14 minutes of the whole picture and is quite effective in conveying the emotional depth and complexity of the film, creating a haunting backdrop that complements the narrative. Its striking character is so strong that the Los Angeles Film Critics awarded the composer a Best Music award, even though the opening and closing of Glazer’s film accounts for nearly 10 of those 14 minutes of score.

‘The film’s sound design is revolutionary in its approach to storytelling.’

The music is crafted to support and amplify the film, rather than existing as a self-contained entity detached from the on-screen reality. Glazer, editor Paul Watts, and Levi realized together that the musical score was competing with the critical sound design of the film, particularly the sounds coming out of the death camp. “There was at one point lots of music in the film,” Levi says. “We were trying to figure out what its role was. It was very hard to put music to it. It became too leading, and after a while [the film] started to tell you what worked and what didn’t”.

The choral works framing the film give the audience a bracing, external outlook on the events depicted. The six-minute finale begins with a long stretch of black screen, during which voices are heard. “Those are real human screams from an amazing group of singers, Levi says.”

For this review, Luc and Andrew share their conversation about the film.

Luc
It’s always tempting for a director to conceptualize history in light of current knowledge, and to build the story in present terms, or apply modern sensibility to past situations, as they are described in Martin Amis 2014 book of the same name. Although the film is not a biography of Rudolph Höss and his family, it is described as a historical drama, this doesn’t deter the director from taking some liberties with his subject matter.

In some ways, I’m enthralled by this film: the originality of this in-depth plunge into Höss’s family life is fascinating. Such a fresh and innovative approach to this much-rehashed chapter of history is quite unlike anything offered until now. Glazer’s storytelling emphasizes the urgency and relevance of the Holocaust narrative in today’s context, forcing us to look at dehumanization and atrocity as hauntingly contemporary. He aims to engage viewers with a present-tense narrative.

Andrew
The storytelling has a broad message, rooted in those darker times. The point raised by the director is that, in today’s societies, it has become possible to retreat into some kind of safe garden next to a worldwide catastrophe. “All our choices are made to reflect and confront us in the present. Not to say, ‘Look what they did then,’ but rather ‘Look what we do now.’

Reflecting on present-day issues rather than solely focusing on historical events, he used innovative techniques to offer a fresh perspective in portraying the story of this privileged family in the 1940s, who feels no shame in implementing policies that entail the slaughter of others, convinced of articulating the ideology that fits neatly with its worldview.

Luc
Glazer’s decision to locate the house adjacent to the death camp’s outer perimeter seems to have been a deliberate creative choice rather than a strict adherence to historical accuracy. In reality, between the house’s lot and the detention area at Auschwitz stood a row of administrative office buildings, followed by the outer wall of the camp. It would have been impossible to see the chimneys of the crematoria from the house, as depicted in the movie.

My question is how much deviation from historical events is acceptable? Was this an artistic liberty Glazer took to underscore his thematic intent and create a visual metaphor rather than a precise historical reenactment? By portraying the chimneys in close proximity to the house, even though this is not factually accurate, he may have intended to enhance the visual impact and symbolism of the narrative, highlighting the omnipresence of horror and moral compromise in such proximity to ordinary life.

Andrew
The chilling juxtaposition of the idyllic family life within the villa and the horrors just beyond their garden wall is central to the storyline. The film highlights this proximity, with the view of the smoke emitted by the crematoria, the sounds of barking dogs, the shouting guards, and the cries of prisoners audible in the background.

Luc
There are some weaknesses in the plot. One of them is the visit of Hedwig’s mother to Auschwitz and her sudden departure after viewing the chimneys from her window. This seems devoid of any sense whatsoever. She was fully aware of the camp’s function – she even joked that a former employer could have been gassed here – so why would the sight of chimneys disturb her to the point of leaving so suddenly? And how exactly would she leave? It wasn’t easy to travel in Nazi Germany, especially to and from Auschwitz.

Andrew
Hedwig’s mother’s visit portrays a chilling aspect of human indifference, where individuals live near unimaginable suffering, yet remain largely detached from the horrors around them. Glazer explained that her departure was not due to moral outrage over the atrocities happening next door, but rather her feeling of discomfort with the proximity to such horrors. He emphasized that there is no redemption for any character in the movie, highlighting how individuals like Hedwig’s mother were more concerned with their daily lives and comforts than with confronting the reality of the nearby atrocities.

Luc
What was the idea behind the scenes of the young Polish girl hiding apples in the ground for the prisoners? Glazer talks about these brief scenes as the “one point of light” in the movie, a “force of good”, but how does it help the scenario in any way? The scenes appear superfluous and misleading for an audience without knowledge of the intricacies of the Holocaust. It is totally out of the blue, as if Glazer just added this because he felt the movie was too dark and he wanted to inject some hope in humanity. Did we need this extra layer of emotional depth and moral reflection to be added to the narrative?

Andrew
The thermal imagery was a deliberate choice by the director to add a haunting and almost ghostlike quality to the film. It was inspired by Alexandria Bystroń-Kołodziejczyk, an elderly Polish woman who was in the Polish resistance when she was just twelve. She had recounted to Glazer how she would cycle to the camp and leave apples for the inmates. “She lived in the house we shot in,” Glazer told the Observer in 2023. “It was her bike we used, and the dress the actress wears was her dress. The director dedicated his Oscar to her, calling her “the only light” in this harrowing Holocaust drama.

Luc
The film is not in any way a biography of Rudolph Höss and his family. Although it is described as a historical drama, this doesn’t deter the director from taking some liberties with his subject matter. So let’s talk about the weak ending, when Höss retches in a staircase in Berlin, as if such a monstrous mind, at the height of his nefarious career, would suddenly feel nauseous about his deeds. The scene has been described as a lacklustre conclusion to the film, a missed opportunity to provide a more impactful and conclusive ending that could have resonated with the audience and tied up the narrative more effectively. To what extent does this event seem genuine in the story context?

Andrew
The portrayal of Höss retching may have fallen short of delivering a powerful and emotionally resonant conclusion that could have left a lasting impression on viewers, but this scene also holds significant symbolic and thematic importance in the film. It encapsulates a profound realization of internal conflict within the protagonist and serves as a poignant reflection on the consequences of his actions and the moral emptiness that pervades his character throughout the narrative.

Any cruelty and evil can be rationalized from a place of perceived principle, but it doesn’t make it any less cruel or evil. Still, seeing it in practice and watching people decomposing and rotting from the inside out is fascinating.

Luc
To my astonishment, towards the end, the narrative somehow shifts to the present, with the Auschwitz Museum collection of victims’ shoes, eyeglasses, and other belongings preserved for posterity. Why write such a coda to the narrative? It adds nothing to the storyline, and it weakens the plot to the point of spoiling the atmosphere previously built.

Andrew
This shift to the present serves a crucial thematic purpose, not intended to weaken the plot but to enhance the film’s impact by connecting the past with the present and emphasizing the enduring legacy of the Holocaust. By juxtaposing Rudolf Höss’s actions with the preserved artifacts, the film underscores the importance of remembrance, bearing witness, and acknowledging the atrocities committed.

Luc
It seems to me that The Zone of Interest, a portrait of the triteness of power and the conscious cruelty of man, should have stood as a masterpiece of historical commonplace, whereas it only shows the limitations of skewed research, ending with a whimper, just another vehicle with Nazi atrocities as its backdrop. This makes it historically weak.

Andrew
Although the narrative’s deliberate choice to avoid depicting the full extent of Nazi atrocities and focus instead on the personal struggles and interactions of the family may be perceived as a shallow exploration of historical events, its thematic focus on the banality of evil offers valuable insights into human nature and the complexities of moral compromise.

The subtle and introspective ending may not offer a grandiose or dramatic conclusion but prompts viewers to confront the complexities of historical interpretation and the dangers of oversimplifying or distorting narratives to fit preconceived notions.

Images: courtesy of A24

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Andrew Burlone, co-founder of WestmountMag.ca, began his media journey at NOUS magazine. Subsequently, he launched Visionnaires, holding the position of creative director for over 30 years. Andrew is passionate about cinema and photography and also has a keen interest in visual arts and architecture.