A chilling exploration of life outside concentration camps
The Zone of Interest is a 2023 Holocaust movie that has turned heads for its shocking and chilling portrayal of Nazi officers and their families as they go on living life while unspeakable horrors take place right outside their homes. Directed by Jonathan Glazer, it stars Christian Friedel and Sandra Huller and has also been making the rounds at festivals and the award season with a win at Cannes, BAFTA and several major nominations at the Oscars.
Rather than a traditional story with a beginning, conflict and end, The Zone of Interest is a large-scale montage, looking at the picturesque life of Nazi officer, Rudolf Hoss and his family as they share a boundary with the Auschwitz concentration camp.
While the horrors at camp are never shown, the background noise, full of gunshots, bells and cries is prevalent while the Hoss family go about their mundane chores, picnicking, fishing, flirting and enjoying life. A testament to the sound mixing which has earned several accolades.
The technical style goes hand in hand with the plot’s execution which seems to be systematic and clinical – just like the emotions of the Nazi officer who separates his family life from his professional side. While we do not get a single glimpse of the cruelty that he must be inflicting at the camp, it still is at odds with his loving nature reserved for his family.
The set design too like the shots shows how everything is neatly framed and organised. Then we have the colour scheme which is a dash of colour to a greyscale theme. Just like the grey wall that separates happiness and torture.
Even the characters act like they are dolls in a dollhouse. It shows that everyone has a role to play, maybe not out of one’s own free will. While it doesn’t excuse the actions of the Nazi officer, it still gives a humanitarian approach, that nothing is so black and white. It makes us wonder how this happy and loving family can go on with their mundane lives while they live a stone’s throw away from a camp.
While the officer’s wife admires herself in a prisoner’s fur coat, there are sounds of officers beating prisoners, gunshots and bells in the background which doesn’t phase her, as if she is used to it by now; there is nothing to be done. These anecdotes show the irony and how much horror one family can take without being affected.
If there is one gripe about this movie, it is that some of the shots are too indulging, a little too long. The mundane daily chores and routine establish the chilling apathy of the family. There is no need to drag them which happens in certain scenes like Hoss switching off the lights in the house as he prepares to sleep peacefully or when his wife goes about clanging pots and pans in the kitchen every few scenes in the movie.
We get it, they are numb to the reality outside of their home. There are also some stylistic choices like the negative shot of a girl hiding food for the prisoners which creates confusion and takes the viewer out of the experience.
But even then, the film largely accomplishes what it sets out to do. The Zone of Interest is an existential think piece about life and how different people can experience different lives while living in the same time and space. It does it cleverly without showing any actual gore or torture which doesn’t minimize the horror in any way, but in fact, tugs at our hearts.
Read More: The Zone of Interest Ending Explained
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Verdict - 8.5/10
8.5/10