Warning: Spoilers ahead (if one can even spoil here)
At first glance, The Zone of Interest is a film about a seemingly normal family living in a large house, surrounded by idyllic landscapes and a beautiful garden, going about their lives.
The film lacks a coherent plot but rather resembles a family photo album filled with countless carefree memories of trips to the river, parties in their garden, and children growing up. It portrays an everyday image of a German family at the time, similar to countless others.
However, the father is not just any man; he is the overseer of the Auschwitz extermination camp. The house is not just anywhere but sits right next to the towering walls of the concentration camp.
While the children play in the garden, one can hear gunshots from the guards and the cries of suffering prisoners in the background. One can see black smoke billowing from the chimneys as bodies are incinerated. This juxtaposition of a seemingly happy family life in the foreground and the cruel fate of millions of Jews in the background creates a sense of comfort that has never been seen before. The irony of a blissful family life, only a hundred meters away from thousands of dying people being ruthlessly gassed, is simply cruel.
The family's unrealistic worldview, especially that of the wife who bursts into tears because her husband is temporarily transferred away, contrasted with the suffering and misery of thousands of people just a hundred meters away behind the walls, reflects the insanity of the Nazi era.
While many argue that this film portrays the human side of a high-ranking Nazi, The Zone of Interest actually illustrates the inhumanity and ignorance of this family. They saw the black smoke and heard the cries daily but still chose to overlook, ignore, and rationalize everything. They wanted to plant rose bushes along the wall to hide it from view. They had a beautiful garden, an idyll, next to the hell of thousands of Jews.
All the war, suffering, horror, and destruction were so close yet so far for this family.
At first glance, The Zone of Interest is a film about a seemingly normal family living in a large house, surrounded by idyllic landscapes and a beautiful garden, going about their lives.
The film lacks a coherent plot but rather resembles a family photo album filled with countless carefree memories of trips to the river, parties in their garden, and children growing up. It portrays an everyday image of a German family at the time, similar to countless others.
However, the father is not just any man; he is the overseer of the Auschwitz extermination camp. The house is not just anywhere but sits right next to the towering walls of the concentration camp.
While the children play in the garden, one can hear gunshots from the guards and the cries of suffering prisoners in the background. One can see black smoke billowing from the chimneys as bodies are incinerated. This juxtaposition of a seemingly happy family life in the foreground and the cruel fate of millions of Jews in the background creates a sense of comfort that has never been seen before. The irony of a blissful family life, only a hundred meters away from thousands of dying people being ruthlessly gassed, is simply cruel.
The family's unrealistic worldview, especially that of the wife who bursts into tears because her husband is temporarily transferred away, contrasted with the suffering and misery of thousands of people just a hundred meters away behind the walls, reflects the insanity of the Nazi era.
While many argue that this film portrays the human side of a high-ranking Nazi, The Zone of Interest actually illustrates the inhumanity and ignorance of this family. They saw the black smoke and heard the cries daily but still chose to overlook, ignore, and rationalize everything. They wanted to plant rose bushes along the wall to hide it from view. They had a beautiful garden, an idyll, next to the hell of thousands of Jews.
All the war, suffering, horror, and destruction were so close yet so far for this family.