The Zone of Interest - Directed by Jonathan Glazer - Starring Christian Friedel as Rudolf Höss -'Sandra Hüller as Hedwig Höss - 2024 Academy Award Winner for Best International Picture and Best Sound Design
One Hour 46 Minutes
Available for Purchase on YouTube and Amazon Prime
Among the numerous print reviews of The Zone of Interest I found that of the Los Angeles Times particularly perceptive.
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2023-12-14/the-zone-of-interest-review-jonathan-glazer-drama-auschwitz-holocaust-wwii
The film focuses on the Hosses as they strive to build a dream life for their family in a house in zone of interest next to the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp. A wall separates their property from the camp.They have five children. Hoss is a dedicated father, reading stories to his children.
When the mother of Mrs Hoss visits she tells her daughter she has done very well. They have a beautiful garden, the household staff are a mixture of prisoners and Poles. Hoss seems to be a Nazi for career purposes more than ideology,
We never see directly the horrors of Auschwitz but there are sounds of gun shots and screams. The smoke from the ovens is always visible and the ashes of the murdered get into everything.
. The Zone of Interest premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on 19 May 2023 to acclaim, winning both the Grand Prix and FIPRESCI Prize, and was named one of the top-five international films of 2023 by the National Board of Review. It won three BAFTAs (including Film not in the English Language), two Academy Awards (Best International Feature and Best Sound), and three Golden Globe Awards.
In his acceptance speech at the Oscars the director Jonathan Glazer he hoped the film would make people think about the walls the set up to allow us to ignore the Middle East War.
The Zone of Interest is High Art. Along with Schindler's List and The Pianist it is essential viewing
It has been a long time since I watched a film that made me want to TALK about it so much. The way sound is used, the way that our view is obscured (and, then, sometimes not)...it's all so interesting. Unlike any film about the Holocaust that I have ever seen.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if his motivation is entirely career-oriented but certainly his concern with promotion and respect loom large and his wife's obsession with the improvements made to their home and garden; there's the scene with his wife, however, talking with the other woman, about a Jewish woman in the neighbourhood, and how one woman lost out on a bid for her drapes, and she does show distaste towards her. It's all so nuanced though...what a powerful piece!