77. The Zone Of Interest; movie review

 

THE ZONE OF INTEREST

Cert 12A

105 mins

BBFC advice: Contains Holocaust theme, disturbing scenes, racism, moderate sex references

One of my overriding thoughts when I was a student in Germany in the early 1980s was - "how did normal people allow the rise of the Nazis and the Holocaust to happen?"

In addition, I would wonder how they went about their everyday lives, knowing that there had been dreadful events such as Kristallnacht - the smashing of Jerwish property on a night in 1938.

This theme is taken to its extreme with The Zone Of Interest, which concentrates on the bizarrely conventional life of the Auschwitz death camp commandant's family.

Jonathan Glazer's picture focuses on  Rudolf Höss (the excellent Christian Friedel) and his wife Hedwig (the outstanding Sandra Hüller), whose home backed onto the camp where more than one million people perished.

Their home life with their five young children is portrayed as staggeringly normal.

During the opening scene, they swim in the river at the bottom of a large garden, complete with vegetable and herb patches.

The whole family sits down to meals, and the children are sent off to school in the usual way.

There is a scent of privilege, but otherwise, this appears to be the relatively run-of-the-mill life of an upper-class German family, and it is as if the war is not even happening.

However, the audience knows that after Höss is waved off to work, he will supervise genocide.

Only very gradually does it become clear that his wife knows precisely why they are there and revels in his description of her as "the Queen of Auschwitz"

The Zone Of Interest's difference from other Holocaust movies is that it never shows any violence - all we hear are shots and shouts over the fence.

Somehow, it rankles even more than the persecutors seem to have not the slightest prick of conscience.

Indeed, Hedwig Höss is portrayed as bathing in the good fortune of living in comparative luxury.

Her husband's discussions with other officers or service providers for the camp are business-like - as if they were in charge of a factory.

This unusual take on the Holocaust is particularly compelling and thought-provoking, although viewers will need background knowledge of the Second World War.

However, its potency is diluted by some surreal interludes (for example, there is an incongruous flash to staff doing jobs in the modern-day Auschwitz museum).

We also found its ending deeply unsatisfying, being forced to read up on what happened to Höss and his family when the war ended.

That is why I have marked it a tad lower than many reviewers.

Reasons to watch: A very different angle to the Holocaust

Reasons to avoid: Leaves knowledge gaps

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: Yes

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 8/10

Did you know? On the initiative of one of his subordinates, Karl Fritzsch, Höss introduced the pesticide Zyklon B to be used in gas chambers at Auschiwtz-Birkenau.

The final word. Jonathan Glazer: “To acknowledge the couple as human beings was a big part of the awfulness of this entire journey of the film, but I kept thinking that, if we could do so, we would maybe see ourselves in them." The Guardian

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