(Photo: Courtesy of A24 / Mica Levi)

5/5 – powerful, thought provoking and moving

Zone of Interest is powerful and profoundly disturbing. It’s the story of a German family during the Second World War. At its head, the proud, hardworking, reserved husband, with his wife and children by his side. He faces being transferred from his job and losing the beautiful home they have created. It is the everyday story of the trials of family life. But this is not a normal household. This is the home of the commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Hoss. And behind the wall of the lovingly tended garden is the concentration camp. The Zone of Interest was the euphemistic phrase to describe the area around the camp. The family’s joys come at an unthinkable human cost to others. 

This is not a film that shouts its intentions. It is the story of the unsaid, the deliberately ignored – of lives lived in denial. The horror is just on the edge of our vision and hearing. As children splash in the pool, plumes of smoke can be seen in the sky. Their family conversations are held over the incessant backing track of the industrial noise of the camp, punctuated intermittently with shouts and shooting. It is claustrophobic and unsettling. Its horror lies in the question that it poses: do we protect our comfortable lives and stand by as atrocities are carried out, or do we take action? A question as relevant today as it was then.

I would very much recommend this film. It’s well acted and beautifully shot. It feels like an important and profound piece of cinema. Go and see it.

Writer/Director: Jonathan Glazer

Based on the novel by Martin Amis

Cast: Christian Friedel,  Sandra Huller

Duration: 106 mins

Rating: not yet rated