'The Zone of Interest' Is A Chilling Reminder of How History Can Repeat Itself
Writer/Director Jonathon Glazer constructs an infuriating look into high societal fascism. The Zone of Interest is a residential home located across the street from Auschwitz. In the house, gunfire, trains transporting prisoners and barking dogs can be distantly heard 24-7. Furthermore, Jews are incinerated. Their ashes are snowed across the chimneys in the ratio of the ZOA. While these atrocities occur, the owner of the residency, Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel), maintains a dream home for his family. Höss is, by all accounts, a monstrous protagonist. He carries out his orders to cook men, women, and children with little to no remorse. For the Höss residency, the screams of dying civilians are more of a nuisance than a cry of terror.
Luckily the sound is faint enough so our characters can quietly sleep through it. As long as it's not too loud, it's not disturbing the household. The sound design of the film is stellar. The sound in the beginning is very distant. As the film goes on, it's much more present. During one scene, a child is caring for the household while a Nazi is yelling at a Jew and shooting him dead. It's loud enough to upset the boy. The echoes of terror are almost drowned out to make the audience ignore it themselves as the Höss's are trying to avoid the sounds of the camp nearby. It's a brilliant synthetic way of putting you in a freak's mindset. The movie is devoid of redeemable characters, as they're all Nazis. Even the children act rudely.
The residency Rudolf's family inhabits is an authentically delightful estate. Its interior design is tasteful, there are multiple bedrooms available, and the backyard has a lovely pool for the children to enjoy. Further down the house is a clean lake to swim and fish in. Just outside the home is a lush greenhouse with flowers fully blossomed. All of the materialistic wealth Rudolf has inherited is from the blood of innocents. Rudolf isn't a monstrous person to his family. Although there are whispers from the estate's maids that Rudolf strikes his wife. On-screen, we don't get a hint of that. Rudolf behaves lovingly to his wife and kids. He hardly raises his voice at Hedwig (Sandra Hüller) or his children. He's a patient, hardworking man who doesn't come off like a fascist.
When not around his children, Rudolf makes irredeemable decisions to exterminate Jews. The way his orders are performed is done cordially. He and his superior officers hold meetings with booklets detailing how they'll deal with the transportation and eradication of Jews. The setting is similar to any office meeting. The genocide of the Holocaust is held offscreen. Not a single drop of blood appears on screen. The horror is what we know is happening, yet the film intentionally doesn't show any of it. It's not like most films about the Holocaust that get into the graphic violence of the genocide.
The movie shows people going about their everyday lives. The horror is what's happening offscreen. There's a chilling scene early in the film where Rudolf is being instructed on how to keep the incinerator working. The meeting is held in Rudolf's home, where guests are politely welcomed. Yet what they're doing is unspeakable. To earn wealth, some will go to unthinkable moral odds to achieve success. Rudolf is that type of man. We never see him execute anyone on screen. The most worked up we see Rudolf get is when he's ordered to occupy another camp far from his residency. It pains him and Hedwig that he must depart. But Rudolf doesn't get emotional about the situation. He carries out his orders in a mature fashion.
The film looms all its terror underneath. Mica Levi's score plays a haunting overture with a black screen before the film begins. Its sounds of off-key instruments and chilling vocals resemble the terror that extends beyond the Höss's walls. Once more, Mica Levi hits a home run of a score. Previously, Jonathon Glazer and Mica Levi worked on Into The Skin, which also featured a petrifying score—Levi's compositions resemble the terrible violence that exists within the camps with its strong brass overtones and soft melodies that sound more like sound effects than music.
The film is slow cinema at its finest. Most scenes are done with a wide shot within a single take. The wide depth of field is meant to resemble the beauty of the Höss residency. Its walls shield its inhabitants from any inconvenient noises that could be heard ever so faintly at night. The unobtrusive nature of the film is its most eerie aspect. It's all about people ignoring one of the greatest genocides to happen in humanity in favor of a convenient life. Who is more inhuman? Rudolf, who dutifully follows his orders to kill, or Hedwig, who denies the cries coming from across her roof in favor of comfort? Hedwig is about as vicious as Rudolf. In one scene, she explodes at one of the housekeepers because Rudolf has upset her. The way Hedwig treats the helper is cruel but expected from a Nazi's wife. She's as much a Nazi as her husband is.
The Zone of Interest is challenging cinema. The structure is slow but wizzes by since its underpinnings are so dynamic. It doesn't feature redeemable characters, and it's a chilling reminder of how unremorseful humanity can be. It's the rich living off the poor. The Nazis drink the blood of their victims for refreshment while trampling on the Star of David. TZOI isn't just a reminder of how easily a nation can fall under fascism. It's about how the wealthy always do inhumane things.
Earlier this year, we were celebrating the CEOs of Nikey in Air while paying no attention to the kids dying in their factories to get Air Jordans made. What of Apple? They have people jumping out the windows at their factories. What's CEO Tim Cook's solution? Get a net to catch them. As long as the terror isn't disrupting the greedy's sleep, then they're okay with a few dead factory workers. Humanity repeats its deplorable actions. We're already re-engaging a path of widespread antisemitism with the war between Palestine and Israel and have the potential to once more elect leaders who are more interested in forming a dictatorship instead of a democracy. The Zone of Interest, in its minimalism, is a reminder of how seamlessly anyone can fall under Nazi Germany's road. Does Rudolf feel guilt for the actions he performs? There's a hint toward the end he might, but none of it is explained. It's up to the audience to fill the logical gaps for themselves. The Zone of Interest is a persistent reminder of the horrors we're capable of when we don't pay attention to the inconveniences next door to us.
