Cinematic Point Of View

Director Jonathan Glazer‘s 2023 film “The Zone of Interest” tells the story of family trying to build a life together under terrible circumstances. Work is tough and demands a lot from the husband.

The wife works hard to create a pleasant and comfortable home environment for her husband and children, as well as, entertain guests. Just when things seemed to be going so well, the husband is told he’s going to have to relocate for work. This news really upsets the wife and she suggests that her and the kids stay in their home, while the husband go on his own. The husband is crushed by this idea. He says he’s never thought about not being with her and the family. It’s a tense time. Will their marriage survive this work-home crisis?

Yeah, so that’s on the surface. It could be a story that happens anywhere. Except it isn’t.

As you likely already know, this film is about Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his wife Hedwig, who are building a dream life for their family in a house and garden that is literally on the other side of the wall of the infamous Nazi death camp.

It’s a work of art that demonstrates how some of the most horrible things that happen in this world aren’t done by some fictional monster, but are simply acts carried out by ordinary people. It’s a vision of men and women who turn a blind eye to injustice or live under the ideology of hate promoted by the leaders in their country.

In most World War 2 films, you are presented with the graphic horrors of the concentration camps or the bloody heroic action of soldiers dying in combat.

There is none of that in this movie. In fact, there is really nothing visually graphic at all.

The horrors of what is taking place are the background sounds of each scene and in your own imagination.

The heart wrenching cries of men, women, and children screaming or begging for mercy beyond the family’s garden wall. Gunfire and barking dogs in the night. The ‘chug chug’ sound of a train pulling in and the white noise of a load of frightened families being unloaded into the camps. A dinner conversation about ordinary things at the table while you see the smoke and flames of the oven smokestack out the window in the background.

It’s chilling. It presents a mind opening perspective of Nazi Germany like no other I have ever seen.

Christian Friedel and Sandra Hüller play Rudolph and Hedwig to cold, calculating ordinary and evil perfection. Through the use of medium to wide shots you feel like a fly on the wall in every scene. Nothing appears as acting. Even the children come across as fully realized people, at once curious about the horrific sounds out their bedroom window and mimicking the hateful words of their parents if only to keep their feelings in check.

And those feelings are what you are always looking for. You sit watching backyard parties and guests arrive while the sounds of horror in the background never end. You look for signs of concern or remorse or regret. Surely they know the reality of what’s happening? How can they live like this? Is it the fear of society that makes then fall in line? You keep looking for the human soul.

Go watch this film. It is a must-see original cinematic masterpiece.