As of: February 26, 2024 8:08 a.m
“The Zone of Interest” deliberately undermines common audience expectations. The film provides a horribly sober depiction of the everyday life of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höß and his family.
At its world premiere in Cannes last year, “The Zone of Interest” immediately caused a sensation. The Holocaust drama, which is based on the novel by Martin Amis, has now been nominated for five Oscars, including in the premier category of “Best Film”. Starring: German actors Sandra Hülser and Christian Friedel.
This film is so impressive because it is the absolute opposite of educational films with a catchy good-and-evil schema à la “Schindler’s List”. And it requires a lot of historical knowledge.
VIDEO: “The Zone of Interest”: Friedel and Hülser about the Höß couple (11 min)
The “normal” everyday life of the Höß family
At the beginning there is darkness: a black screen in front of your eyes, booming sounds in your ears. The film title appears in white, the letters fray and disappear. The carpet of sound becomes thicker again, only to be replaced almost seamlessly by birdsong. Now the sky is blue, it is a beautiful summer day, a family of five is bathing in the river.
Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest” deliberately undermines common audience expectations. He relies on contrasts in form and content and delivers a horribly sober description of the everyday life of the commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, Rudolf Höß, his wife Hedwig and their five children.
Further information
Christian Friedel and Sandra Hülser play the concentration camp commander Rudolf Höß and his wife Hedwig in Jonathan Glazer’s drama – in cinemas from February 29th. more
Gunshots, screams and the roar of the crematoria
The Höß family lives in a spacious house with an idyllic garden full of flowers and vegetables – Hedwig Höß’s pride and joy. A paradise of prosperity, surrounded by a wall behind which people are murdered day and night in the concentration camp. What happens in the camp is never shown, but the soundtrack is merciless: shots, screams and the roar of the crematoria are omnipresent.
Rudolf Höß is an honest family man, Hedwig Höß is a pragmatic housewife. Both take advantage of every opportunity the system offers them to make their own living conditions more comfortable and to increase their prestige. A blueprint of the banality of evil.
The location left a lasting impression on the film crew
The film was shot in Poland, not in the Höß family’s original house, but in the same proximity to Auschwitz. Being there was very important for the actor Christian Friedel: “The fact that you filmed there does something to you: that you never forget what responsibility you actually have. We all suppress things in our lives, and sometimes it is “It’s also necessary for survival – but we couldn’t ignore the fact of what we’re doing where we are, of feeling that. That was very important for the entire team.”
The fact that people were constantly being killed in the immediate vicinity, which was never discussed in the family’s everyday life, was omnipresent for Sandra Hülser: “Our work always had something to do with the fact that we were aware of this the whole time “I wasn’t aware of it. The work was based on this discrepancy the whole time. It was really interesting and, to be honest, I’ve never experienced it like that before.”
“The Zone of Interest” doesn’t work for everyone
There are not many people left who experienced and survived the Holocaust. The reports of contemporary witnesses and the documentary images are still present in the collective memory of primarily a certain age group. For them, “The Zone of Interest” works in its non-showing. It will be problematic for everyone else.
Further information
Christian Friedel stars with Sandra Hülser in Jonathan Glazer’s Auschwitz drama “The Zone of Interest”. more
The Zone of Interest
Genre:Historical Drama Year of Production:2023 Country of Production:USA | United Kingdom | Poland Additional information: With Christian Friedel, Sandra Hülser, Johann Karthaus and others Director: Jonathan Glazer Length: 106 minutes Rating: from 12 years old Cinema release: 29. February 2024
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NDR Info | Culture | 02/26/2024 | 07:55 am