The Zone of Interest (2023) – 7.5/10 – Troubling Film of What True Hate Looks Like
This is a German film about Rudolf Hoss, the Nazi SS commandant who ran the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp during the Holocaust. It was the largest such camp, and they systematically massacred more than a million Jews in that single camp within a few short years. Hoss was the one who Hitler had placed in charge of it, living in an expensive flat down the road from the camps with his family. I’m sure you can imagine how things would go. I don’t think you can expect anything less when someone is associated with individuals like Hitler, Himmler, Mengele, and Goering. The stark contrast between reality and this strange world is jarring to watch unfold the way it’s filmed. Amid snapshots of normal family interactions, the film disperses scenes from a horror show. In one scene, you watch Hoss take his kids for a walk, and in the next approve the ovens for systematic slaughter, as if the two things equate. In the next scene, he celebrates his birthday, followed by yelling at his SS officers for picking lilacs. The most disturbing part is the nonchalant way they go about their business as usual, with zero self-awareness. And it’s not just his behavior, but his wife’s too. It’s very terrifying, but this is what true hate looks like.
‘Zone of Interest’ is a difficult film to watch not just for the ideas, but because it’s filmed like a documentary. I’m not sure what they were going for here, except perhaps to show the human side of a psycho. The cinematography, directing, editing, visuals, and background score stood out to me more than anything in building the dark atmosphere it built. It’s what you would expect from a horror film. The acting was realistic, transporting you into that era, right beside Hoss, witnessing events unfold. They also clung to historical facts. The real Hoss had hired someone whose job was to rev a motorcycle engine to mask sounds of screams and shootings from the camps from reaching the residential areas. In this film, you often hear a motorcycle revving in the background. As far as the commandant is concerned, the WW2 tribunals sentenced him to death, and he hung outside of the entrance to the gas chambers at Auschwitz he was responsible for. Poetic justice?
Would I recommend it? Probably not. I watched it, but I don’t think it’s worth watching. Unless you are interested in WW2 and the Holocaust or like disturbing films, I don’t suggest it. There’s nothing graphic, but it’s still very disturbing. It’s not a film you watch for entertainment or joy. There’s nothing joyful about watching the person in charge of perhaps the single biggest human extermination camps in history at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
