An extremely hard and difficult film to view even though you don't see any of the atrocities involved. That, however, is why the film is as effective as it is. It simply depicts the homelife of a husband and a wife, their children and their nice home which is next door to one of the most horrific places in history, Auschwitz, and the time is the early 1940's and the husband happens to be Rudolf Höss, a man notoriously responsible for the deaths of millions of Jews. This won an Oscar for sound that was richly deserved as horrific as it is. What the film does not allow us to see, it does allow us to hear. It also has some stunning cinematography. There are many actors in this, but only two of consequence, Christian Friedel as Höss and Sandra Hüller as his wife in a role that is light years away from her recent superb performance in the fascinating Anatomy of a Fall. However, neither of these seem like performances as they are so incredibly lifelike. We are all mostly products of our place in time, our locations and our upbringings. These are horrible human beings just doing what life has turned them into and in this case it is as cold and inhumane as man has been at any time in modern history. The final depiction of Höss descending a staircase is a bit of a puzzle. It suggests that there is some sort of conscious in this man. I'm not sure why the creators of this would want to provide us with that impression if indeed that is what they were aiming for. Jonathan Glazer has only made four feature films in the past 23 years and all have been excellent in some fashion with no similarities, though unlike this, the other three offered entertainment value, an aspect he is not interested in here. He is a major talent. It's 2024 and considering the current state of the nation, the world, this is as timely a warning as a film could be. I so hope that changes.
Review of The Zone of Interest
