The Zone of
Interest
directed by
Jonathan Glazer,
written by
Jonathan Glazer and Martin Amis,
based on the
novel by Martin Amis,
was released
at the Cannes Film Festival in France on May 19, 2023.
Music by Mica
Levi.
Review by
Jack Kost / Friday, May 17, 2024:
Based on the
true story, written in novel form by the author, of Rudolf Höss, the commandant
of the Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp.
He, along
with his wife, Hedwig, and their children, lived in a house on the other side
of the boundary wall, with the camp watch tower and top floors of the buildings
always visible.
The family
enjoyed their artificial oasis, spending their time mostly at leisure:
sunbathing, swimming, gardening … all with the sounds from the camp constantly
in the background.
Yet, the Höss
family coldly went about their lives, ignoring it all, pretending it wasn’t
happening.
Their daily
routine shown at a slow pace, a study of the banality of evil.
As Rudolf
Höss oversaw the slaughter within the camp, Hedwig plundered the belongings
stolen from the prisoners, the spoils of war, kept what she wanted and used the
place as her own personal thrift store.
We, the
viewers, never see the war crimes committed by the Nazis, the horror, the
atrocities, the sadistic cruelty inflicted on the camp prisoners, but we hear
it: the screaming of pain and torment, guards shouting, dogs barking, gunshots,
flames from the crematorium.
This
cacophony of background noise forces our imagination to conjure the hellish
images.
What we see
is the smoke from the train bringing new prisoners to be put to work or
murdered.
The smoke
from the chimney stack, from bodies being cremated, always there in the sky.
At night, the
orange glow from the chimney stack flames illuminates the rooms.
The Zone of
Interest is a must-see movie you will never forget.
It’s a movie
as powerful and important as Schindler's List (1993), directed by Steven
Spielberg; The Pawnbroker (1964), directed by Sidney Lumet; Anne Frank: The
Whole Story (2001), directed by Robert Dornhelm; The Survivor (2021), directed
by Barry Levinson; Conspiracy (2001), directed by Frank Pierson; Anthropoid
(2016), directed by Sean Ellis; The Captain (2017), directed by Robert
Schwentke; Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), directed by Stanley Kramer; Nuremberg
(2000), directed by Yves Simoneau; and many others.
The Zone of
Interest concludes with Rudolf Höss pausing to stare into the darkness of
corridors, before walking down a flight of stairs, again into darkness, a man
without God, without a soul, descending into the abyss, damned to Hell.
Intercut are
scenes from modern day: the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, cleaned by a team
of janitors.
On permanent
display, behind protective screens, are photographs, piles of clothes, shoes,
suitcases and belongings, stolen from the prisoners.
The remains
of the camp are preserved, to inform and teach future generations about a
horrific period in history.
A period that
should be studied, learned from, and never forgotten, so it will never be
repeated.
Cast:
Christian
Friedel, Sandra Hüller, Johann Karthaus, Luis Noah Witte, Nele Ahrensmeier,
Lilli Falk, Anastazja Drobniak, Cecylia Pekala, Kalman Wilson, Medusa Knopf,
Max Beck, Slava the Dog, Andrey Isaev, Julia Babiarz, Stephanie Petrowitz,
Martyna Poznanski, Zuzanna Kobiela, Benjamin Utzerath, Thomas Neumann,
Klaudiusz Kaufmann, Justyna Szklarska, Kacper Piwko, Marie Rosa Tietjen, Antje
Falk, Jakub Sierenberg, Joerg Sierenberg, Joerg Giessler, Heiko Lange, Marek
Lukasik, Bernhard Schirmer, Julia Polaczek, Shenja Lacher, Imogen Kogge,
Wiktoria Wisniewska, Paulina Burzyk, Anna Marciniszyn, Agnieszka Wierny, Patryk
Mika, Tomasz Piwko, Carsten Koch, Heinz Nielow, Christine Schröder, Marnius
Fislage, Ralph Herforth, Daniel Holzberg, Rainer Haustein, Daniel Hoffman,
Wolfgang Lampl, Oscar Lebeck, Christian Willy, Freya Kreutzkam, Leo Meier,
Barbara Koszatka, Izabela Bara, Anna Kuwik, Mariola Karczewska, Halina
Drzymota, Dominika Matonóg, Ewelina Kaczor, Matgorzata Zurek, Barbara
Jakubowska, Etzbieta Bronka, Zuzanna Janusik, Sascha Maaz, Ralf Zillmann.
.jpg)
%201.jpg)
%204.jpg)
%205.jpg)
%208.jpg)
%2014.jpg)
.jpg)
%20(1).jpg)
%201.jpg)
%202.jpg)
%201.jpg)
%201.jpg)
%202.jpg)
.jpg)
.JPG)
.jpg)