Loosely based on the Martin Amis novel, multiple Oscar nominee Zone of Interest is the first film in a decade from director Jonathan Glazer. It stars Christian Friedel as the Nazi Rudolf Höss, who lives an idyllic life with his wife, Hedwig (Sandra Hüller), in a new home next to the Auschwitz Concentration Camp where he is the commandant.
This is an uncomfortable story that is told in a starkly matter of fact way. We never see inside the camp but the audience is made all too aware of its proximity by the noises emanating from it and by the sight of the chimneys belching smoke as the corpses of the slaughtered inmates are burned.
Instead we see Rudolf, Hedwig and their innumerable kids doing mostly normal family stuff. I assume the purpose is to show that people who do monstrous things are not monsters all the time. The mundanity of their existence is juxtaposed brilliantly in several chilling moments including Hedwig casually inheriting clothes from women killed by her husband, her outburst at a servant that involves threatening to have her killed, and the youngest son playing gas chambers with a sibling.
The combination of Mica Levi’s score and Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn sound design adds another level of unease and the ending impactful. Having said that, it does feel at times that Glazer has made his point, and we are just left watching evil people do ordinary things.
Rating: 8 out of 10