Unlike most modern film trailers, it was unclear what to expect of “The Zone of Interest” without seeing the German film in its entirety: of course, it’s understood that it’s a loose adaptation of Martin Amis’ 2014 novel, an exposé of S.S. commandant Rudolf Höss and his family’s “aloof” lives. And while it’s tough to classify “The Zone of Interest” in the horror genre considering its historical rootedness, it certainly watches like one.
Coined by cartoonist Art Spiegelman, the idea of “Holokitsch” — that the Holocaust is performed about in unsettling excess — applies to this film. Still, “The Zone of Interest” manages to offer a refreshed perspective: by dimming visual horrors often shown in films like “Schindler’s List” and “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,” Jonathan Glazer’s film conveys the Holocaust’s depravities through sound and brief glances. Wailing screams, gunshots, and chimney smoke are juxtaposed against the Höss family’s detached dream life: complete with scenic rivers, horseback riding, and bedtime stories.
Without being re-traumatized visually, audiences instead are left to feel and hear how complacency leads to monstrousness. By making the Auschwitz III camp’s realities “background noise,” we’re faced instead with the fact that families sat by — mere feet from genocide — and went about their lives unbothered. And in the face of today’s real-life atrocities too, that message becomes almost more terrifying. It brings up thoughts like, “Who do we become when we become so self-regarding?” and “How far will we allow ourselves to ignore injustice?”
Rarely before have tall green trees, honeybees, and birthday celebrations been haunting, but in these 106 minutes they will become so. “The Zone of Interest” will stick with audience members in a stubborn, nagging way. It’s the “banality of evil” theory onscreen, and it’s done insidiously well. And though it’s leaving Coronado Village Theatre soon, it’s one Oscar-nominated film that’s worth leaving the island for.
Movie Times: Click Here
Genre: History, Drama, War
Director: Jonathan Glazer
Actors: Nele Ahrensmeier, Anastazja Drobniak, Lilli Falk, Christian Friedel, Sandra Hüller, Johann Karthaus, Cecylia Pekala, Kalman Wilson & Luis Noah Witte
Run Time: 1 hr, 46 min
Rating: PG-13 for Some Suggestive Material, Smoking, and Thematic Material
