#07: ZONE OF INTEREST

 

STARRING: Christian Friedel, Sandra Hüller. Written and directed by Jonathan Glazer. Based on the book The Zone of Interest  Martin Amis. Music by Mika Levi. Running time 105 minutes. 

One of the most deeply unsettling and emotionally charged films I've ever seen, this will haunt me for a long time to come. 

Set in 1943 in an idyllic family house with a beautiful garden built next to the Auschwitz concentration camp. The film follows the utterly mundane daily lives of Rudolf Höss and his family as they live a life of domestic bliss and luxury seemingly oblivious to the utter horrors committed just over their garden wall. The film follows the family and their servants as they go about their daily lives of play, school, and house chores  accompanied at all times by the sounds of mechanised death which fill their lives without mention. 

When Höss is called back to Berlin, his wife refuses to leave the family home, leaving him to a few months alone, until he unveils the blueprint of his plans to systematically exterminate millions of Jews and his sent back to his beloved home as a reward. 

Against the bizarre perfect home life of the Höss family, steam from the trains arriving at Auschwitz, and the billowing smoke from the camp's chimneys stain the ground and local river to deeply unsettling degrees. 

Directed by Jonathan Glazer who's track record includes Sexy Beast and Under the Skin this is a staggering emotional experience that must rank as one of the scariest films I've ever seen. The sparring use of almost industrial sound based music and the never ending noise of the death camps that fill almost every second of this only works to create a true sense of absolute dread.

There are no high points or low, the slow moving pace of the film only serves to make it even more unsettling and the sheer banality of Höss and his wife's relationship and home life just makes you want to scream that little bit louder.

This is a powerful and deeply chilling experience, which despite its subject matter I urge you to see. We as a species must never forget the horrors of the Nazis and of fascism.  

10/10